6. Macros

6.1. Your Basic Macro

Typing takes time. Time is critical in dogfighting or teamwork. Most of the messages sent in  Netrek are standard warnings, distress calls, requests, notifications, etc.  Also retyping that insulting message everytime you doosh someone is a drag. Hence, you can put macros in your xtrekrc, and allow a single keystroke to send a message. The format is:

mac.<key>.<dest>: <text>

<key> is the character you wish to assign to that macro, <dest> is a standard message destination (0-9a-j for player, F/R/K/O for teams, T for your team, A for all), and <text> is what you want to send. So, for example, if you put:

mac.b.T: Bomb enemy core, please!

in your xtrekrc file, you could then press X (or whatever key you assigned to macro mode with the macroKey option -- I like TAB) and then b, and the above message would be sent to your team.

You can also send multiline macros, for example:

mac.i.A: \\\\ You have just been DOOSHED! mac.i.A: (o o) Didn't that feel good? mac.i.A: ( . ) mac.i.A: \V/ In this case the macro invoked by X,i will send the above to all. WARNING: multiline macros can be a waste of bandwidth and very annoying! Use them rarely, if at all. Some servers do not support them at all, e.g. you can send them but the server will not repeat it to the players.

If there is some macro you want to activate without hitting the macro mode key first, you can add it to the singleMacro option. For example, to make the above two macros single key macros (which might be a bad idea as you would then have now way to use the info window normally activated by 'i'):

singleMacro: bi

But, there's more!

6.2. Newmacro

(Documentation by Jeff Nelson 6/4/1993)

Here is the idea: A player should be able to include in his/her macros whatever reasonable information is available. And configuring its display in whatever way is desired. In order to do this, the following syntax is used (while remaining completely compatible with old NBT macros).

A key is assigned in the defaults file (ie .xtrekrc, etc) by a line like:

mac.F.T Help! Carrying %a!!

This defines a macro which will send a distress containing the number of armies a player is carrying to his team.

Note, this is NOT printf syntax! Any attempt to use formatting will fail miserably. Maybe in the future someone will want to develop a means of formatting the variables used in macros, but the only means I can think of are both bulky and ugly.

Here is another example:

mac.f Help! Carrying %a!!

Unlike the first, this macro will not send directly to the team, instead it requires that you give a third keystroke specifying the recipient. For example, it could be invoked by:

XfT <- to your team Xf1 <- to player 1 XfG <- if you are desperate, send to God XfA <- if you are stupid, send to ALL

Old macros will still work in addition to these, thus be sure there are no conflicts. These generally cause suprising results. For example, if this is in your macro file:

mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying!! macro.E.A You all suck! mac.E Help! I'm a twink!! mac.E.T Help! I'm carrying again!! macro.E.A You all suck even worse NOW!

The suprising results would be that pressing XE would broadcast the first two messages, and then wait for the destination of the third. It would be impossible to ever use the last two. Unfortunately, multiline macros also do not work if they require a destination. There is no good reason for this, but since multiline macros annoy the hell out of me, I ain't fixing it. You can still do something like:

mac.D.A: D mac.D.A: O mac.D.A: O mac.D.A: S mac.D.A: H

This would properly broadcase 5 messages containing 1 character to all. If you tried to specify the destination for these by using "mac.D:", only 'D' would be sent.

Also '?' can still not be used as a macro key. The following definitions will work in a macro (where 'target x' = whatever x the mouse cursor is closest to when the macro is sent):

Standard:

%a armies carried by sender %d sender damage percentage %s sender shield percentage %f sender fuel percentage %w sender wtemp percentage %e sender etemp percentage %t team id character of target planet %T team id character of sender team %c sender id character %n armies on target planet %E 1 if etemped, 0 if not %W 1 if wtemped, 0 if not %S sender two character ship type %p id character of target player %g id char of target friendly player %h id char of target enemy player %P id character of player nearest sender %G id char of friendly player nearest sender %H id char of enemy player nearest sender %l three character name of target planet %i sender full player name (16 character max) %u full name of target player (16 character max) %z 3 letter team id of target planet %b planet nearest sender %o three letter team name of sender %k number of kills sender has %K number of kills target player has %* if this is encountered, the macro IS NOT PRINTED %(SPACE) this is replaced by a space, mainly useful for starting a message

FULLY CAPITALIZED:

%L three character name of target planet %I sender full player name (16 character max) %U full name of target player (16 character max) %Z 3 letter team id of target planet %B sender nearest planet %O three letter team name of sender

Ping stats: (may differ slightly from server '!' ping stats)

%v average ping stat round trip time %V ping stat round trip standard deviation %y percent total packet loss as calculated by server formula

Miscellanous:

%m the last message you sent %M the last message you sent in all caps

As a further extension to NEWMACRO, a macro may now be sent to any of the following destinations:

%i %I %c send message to self %u %U %p send message to player nearest mouse %t %z %Z send message to team of player nearest mouse %g send message to nearest friendly player to my ship %h send message to nearest enemy player to my ship with a syntax like

#useful for INL... mac.C.%i: CAPTAIN mac.N.%i: NEWGALAXY mac.S.%i: START mac.T.%i: %Z

mac.W.%t: SHUT UP, TWINKS!! mac.I.%u: %u: det when you escort! mac.O.%u: (%i) ogging

What this does is allows you to send a macro to a player or team specified by your mouse location instead of requiring a 3rd character to be input. Also, it allows you to send message to yourself without having to actual sit there and figure out who you are (they tried and failed back in the '60s).

Further, tests may be done within the macro system, the syntax for these test is as follows.

%? introduces a test = equivalence > greater < less

Expressions are evaluated on a character by character basis until the test is resolved. The text of the test is then replaced in the macro by 1 or 0.

Test are then fed to a syntax I call conditional text. The best way to demonstrate how this works is example.

"1%{included if true%!included if false%}"

This would print:

"included if true"

whereas

"0%{included if true%!included if false%}"

would print:

"included if false"

Combining the whole package, a very robust macroing system is quickly generated. One can easily design or mimic Distress calls, including the variable NBT distress of the BRM client and all the hardcoded message macroing built into my own client but never released.

Here are a few more samples to work from:

mac.F.T: Help! Carrying %a!! mac.f: Help! Carrying %a!! mac.c.T: %p++ near %l mac.b.T: %?%n>4%{bomb %l at %n%!bomb%} mac.d.T: %E%{%!%W%{%!I'm fine. How are you? %}%}%E%{ETEMPED!!! %} %W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies!%!NO armies.%} mac.a.T: %E%{ETEMPED!!! %}%W%{WTEMPED!!! %}Carrying %?%a>0%{%a armies! %!NO armies.%} mac.R.A: I'm a %?%S=SB%{star base!%!twink!%} mac.K.A: KissMy%S mac.t: thanks mac.y: yes mac.n: no mac.B: bye, getting hungry/sleep/horny mac.e.T: need escort going to %l%?%a>0%{, carrying %a armies!%} mac.v.%t %T%c PING stats: Average: %v ms, Stdv: %V ms, Loss: %y%%

My Favorite:

mac.m: %m

6.3 RCD

There is an even more interestring thing that you can do with macros. It's called Receiver Configurable Distress (RCD). The basic idea is that everyone likes certain standard types of messages, such as distress, pickup, carrying, etc, to appear in a certain way. Unfortunately this is usually not the way everyone else sends them. To make matters worse, everyone sends their messages in a different way and this hopelessly clutters the message window. Fortunately, there is help! You can configure the way certain standard messages and distress calls appear to you. This is an important point: you do not configure the way the messages are sent with RCD.  Instead, you are configuring how they appear to _you_.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

9/2/93 - jmn, jn (no relation 8^)

Receiver configurable distress calls have been added to the client and use a MACRO-like syntax.

In order to change which key you would like a message to map to, all you have to do is use either keymap like you have always done, or ckeymap, a new feature introduced to accomodate the massive number of new functions (ie message sending) that have been added in this client. Please see the ckeymap section of this document for more information on that.

In order to change *how a message appears to you* a line such as the following should be in your defaults file:

dist.taking: (%i) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%} dist.help: Help! I've fallen! I can't get up! %a

This has the format

dist.[name of distress]: [macro]

Arguments for the macro and SMARTMACRO syntax are exactly the same as before. Any argument can be used, but usually only those in the groups "Standard" and "FULLY CAPITALIZED" apply.

You MAY NOT affect how a message appears to anyone else, this is against the basic concepts of RCD.

6.4 RCM (Receiver Configurable Server Messages)

Short packet kill messages may be freely configured using the macro syntax interpreter where:

* the killed person corresponds to the sender, * the killer corresponds to the target player, * involved planet (killed by, destroyed, taken) to the target planet, * damage is int part of kills and shield fraction part. * whydead goes with wtmp.

All others are undefined.

The format of the messages is:

msg.[name of message]: [RCM macro]

Available messages and their defaults are:

msg.kill: ........ msg.kill:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%}) was kill %?%d>0%{%k%!NO CREDIT)%} for %u (%r%p) %?%w>0%{%W%!%} msg.planet:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%} killed by %l (%z) %?%w>0%{%W%!%} msg.bomb:%N->%Z We are being attacked by %i (%T%c) who is %d%% damaged. msg.destroy:%N->%Z %N destroyed by %i (%T%c) msg.take:%N->%O %N taken by %i (%T%c) msg.ghostbust:GOD->ALL %i (%S) (%T%c) was kill %k for the GhostBusters

BRMH formated kill windows may be optain by something like:

msg.kill: %i (%S) (%T%c%?%a>0%{+%a armies%!%}) %>30 kill %?%d>0%{%k%!NO CREDIT)%} for %u (%r%p) %?%w>0%{%>65%W%!%}

6.5 Default Macros And Distresses

Below is a table giving the name of each distress, the key it is assigned to, and the default macro (at the time of this writing). In the table below, the first character indicates which control character each of these messages is assigned to. There are two exceptions, the generic distress call and army report are still mapped to E and F; they do not use control keys. You can also of course always hit the macro key and then the non-control version of the key indicated.

All these examples assume: you are player F0 (%T%c), alias "Twinky" (%i), flying a CA (%S), carrying 3 (%a) armies, with the mouse closest to Cassiopia (%l or %L), which has 5 (%n) armies. The nearest friendly player to the mouse is player Fc (%T%g) and the nearest player of any team to the mouse cursor is player 06 (%p). You yourself are near Beta Crucis.

Key Distress Name

t taking %T%c->%O (%S) Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%} Taking a planet. Example: "F0->FED (CA) Carrying 3 to Cas @ 5"

o ogg %T%c->%O Help Ogg %p at %l Tell your team to ogg a carrier. Example: "FO->FED Help Ogg 6 at Cas"

b bomb %T%c->%O %?%n>4%{bomb %l @ %n%!bomb%} Tell your team to bomb a planet. Example: "F0->FED bomb Cas @ 5"

c space_control %T%c->%O Help Control at %L Request space control at specified location. Example: "F0->FED Help Control at CAS"

1 save_planet %T%c->%O Help at %l! %?%a>0%{ (have %a arm%?%a=1 %{y%!ies%}) %} %s%% shld, %d%% dam, %f%% fuel Need help NOW to take or protect a planet. Example: "F0->FED Help at Cas! (have 3 armies) 60% shld, 13% dam, 63% fuel"

2 base_ogg, %T%c->%O Sync with --]> %g <[-- OGG ogg OGG base!! That greatest of manuevres, the Ogg, as applied to an enemy SB. Example: "F0->FED Sync with --] c [--- OGG ogg OGG base!!"

3 help1 %T%c->%O Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a armies. General distress. Same for help2. Example: "F0->FED Help me! 13% dam, 60%shd, 63% fuel 3 armies"

4 help2 %T%c->%O Help me! %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel %a armies. Defaults to same as above.

e escorting %T%c->%O ESCORTING %g (%d%%D %s%%S %f%%F) Tells your team who you are escorting. Example: "F0->FED ESCORTING c (13%D 60%S 62%F)" p ogging %T%c->%O Ogging %h Tells your team who you are ogging. Example: "F0->FED Ogging 6"

m bombing %T%c->%O Bombing %l @ %n Tells your team that you are bombing. Many players turn this message off (by inserting a %* anywhere in the message string) as they can figure out for themselves where someone is going to bomb by their course. Example: "F0->FED Bombing Cas @ 5"

l controlling %T%c->%O Controlling at %l Tells your team that you are space controlling somewhere. This is the art of dominating a region of space. Example: "F0->FED Controlling at Cas"

5 asw %T%c->%O Anti-bombing %p near %b. Tells your team that you are doing Anti Scout (bomber) Warfare. Example: "F0->FED Anti-bombing 6 near Bet"

6 asbomb %T%c->%O DON'T BOMB %l. Let me bomb it (%S) Respectfully requests that you be allowed to bomb something. This is typically used if you are flying an AS as they have a much better chance of bombing a planet to a lower number, making it easier to take. Example: "F0->FED DON'T BOMB Cas. Let me bomb it (CA)"

7 doing1 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at lal. %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel General information message.  Example: "F0->FED (Twinky) has 3 armies at lal. 13% dam, 60% shd, 62% fuel"

8 doing2 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at lal. %d%% dam, %s%% shd, %f%% fuel Same as doing1, by default

f free_beer %T%c->%O %p is free beer Tells your team about a clueless player who is an easy kill. Example: "F0->FED 6 is free beer"

n no_gas %T%c->%O %p @ %l has no gas Tells your team about someone who is out of fuel, good or bad. Example: "F0->FED 6 @ Cas has no gas"

h crippled %T%c->%O %p @ %l crippled Tells your team that someone is crippled, i.e. badly damaged. Example: "F0->FED 6 @ Cas crippled"

9 pickup %T%c->%O %p++ @ %l One of the most useful macros. Use this if you see an enemy pick up armies . Example: "F0->FED 6++ @ Cas"

0 pop %T%c->%O %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}! Tells your team the number of armies on a planet or that it has popped or been bombed or dropped on recently.  Example: "FO->FED Cas @ 5!"

F carrying %T%c->%O %?%S=SB%{Your Starbase is c%!C%}arrying %? %a>0%{%a%!NO%} arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}. Tells your team the number of armies you are carrying. Example: "F0->FED Carrying 3 armies."

@ other1 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at lal. (%d%%D, %s%%S, %f%%F) Another general call.

# other2 %T%c->%O (%i)%?%a>0%{ has %a arm%?%a=1%{y%!ies%}%} at lal. (%d%%D, %s%%S, %f%%F) Same as above

E help %T%c->%O Help(%S)! %s%% shd, %d%% dmg, %f%% fuel, %?%S=SB%{ %w%% wtmp,%!%}%E%{ ETEMP!%}%W%{ WTEMP!%} %a armies! General distress call. This one also reports if you are wtemped or etemped, if you are an SB. Example: "F0->FED Help(CA)! 60%shd, 13% dam, 63% fuel, 3 armies!

Let's walk through two simple examples.

1. Map generic distress call (help) to 'h', make it appear as: "I'm about to die with %a of your team's armies!"

2. Map AS bombing (asbomb) to '^A', don't change the message.

First try to seperate in your mind the two types of configurability that are going on here.

1) you are changing the key that sends the message 2) you are changing how the message appears to you

In order to do (1), just use a keymap. Nearly everyone who has tried to configure their netrek client has generated some form of keymap.

keymap: hE

This performs the key configuration we wanted for the first example.

In order to change the message,

dist.help: %T%c->%O I'm about to die with %a of your team's armies!

If you configure an RCD, you also must configure the header of that message. This isn't is difficult as it sounds, just add the header to the beginning of the RCD. For example, instead of dist.T.taking: Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}

use

dist.T.taking: % %T%c@%b Carrying %a to %l%?%n>-1%{ @ %n%}

Two headers that I recommend (the last is the default):

% %T%c@%b % %T%c->%O

If you want to map the asbomb distress onto control-shift-a that is slightly more difficult. The as bomb distress normally is associated with control-6. Since control keys are involved, we MUST use the control key map feature called ckeymap. The following line would perform the operation we would like.

ckeymap: ^A^6

If you *also* want control-a to be asbomb, then use

ckeymap: ^A^6^a^6

If you have read all the documentation, are sure you are using the right syntax, and RCD (or MACRO) still is not working, then check out the following.

1. Did you receive RC_DISTRESS when you logged in?

The server must send this to the client to tell the client that it understands RCD messages. Otherwise the client will just send the standard formatted RCDs.

Some clients have a mod which shows you whether RC_DISTRESS is on by looking at the first line of the macro window. If it says, "Packages active: NBT, NEWMACRO, SMARTMACRO", you have no guarantee that RCD was turned on by the server. If it says, "Packages active: NBT, NEWMACRO, SMARTMACRO, RC_DISTRESS" then RCD is definitely on. Don't worry about #1, go to #2.

2. Are any MACROs assigned to the same key as the RCD you are configuring?

If this occurs, you will see the macro and NOT the RCD.

3. Are any other RCDs assigned to the same key as the RCD you are configuring (this includes the DEFAULT RCDS!!) ? If this occurs, you will see whichever RCD happens to be listed first when the client examines the RCD list.

7. Xtrekrc Reference

Upon startup, Netrek looks for a configuration file called ".xtrekrc" (or, equivalently, ".netrekrc", in first the current directory, then the user's home directory, and then in the same directory as netrek.exe. (WinCOW note: to keep with convention, the files checked for are named xtrekrc and netrekrc -- no preceding dot -- and WinCOW also checks the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment variables) You can also set the filename with the XTREKRC envirinment variable. Many, many things can be set in the xtrekrc file, and its proper use is essential to good Netrek play.

The following is an alphabetical list of every option that can be set in the netrekrc file. The values immediately following the option names are the default value of the option if not set. askForUpdate: off Get full update from server when you enter the game. This is a good idea when using short packets and UDP.

babes: on Shows a pic of Kathy Ireland when you ghostbust or take over the galaxy.

buttonmap: 1t2p3k [whatever] Maps mouse buttons to key functions. Format: <button><key>... like keymap. Available buttons: 1 = left 2 = middle 3 = right 4 = Shift+Left 5 = Shift+Middle 6 = Shift+Right 7 = Control+Left 8 = Control+Middle 9 = Control+Right a = Shft+Ctrl+Left b = Shft+Ctrl+Middle c = Shft+Ctrl+Right [ Windows client included netrekrc adds 4p = shift+Left for phaser. ]

cloakChars: ?? The characters to use to show cloaked ships on the galactic map. Other popular choices are "()" and "><". They make nice crosshairs ;-)

clock: 2 Stat clock: 0 -- no clock, 1 -- h:m, 2 -- h:m:s.

continueTractor: on If off, only shows tractors for a short time.

continuousMouse: off If on, if you drag the mouse while holding a button down, it will have the same effect as clicking rapidly while you move the mouse. On is considered borgish and most servers will not allow it.

dashboard: off Use a dashboard (LAB) style for the stats line. Try this.

documentation: cow.txt File to display in documentation window enemyPhaser: 1 Width of enemy phaser lines. Makes it MUCH easier to tell when enemies arephasering you. I use a width of 5.

extraAlertBorder: on Also uses inside border to show alert status.

fillTriangle: off If locks are shown, whether or not to fill the triangle.

galacticFrequent: on Update galactic map frequently. This is good for plocking cloakers.

ignoreCaps: on Ignore the Capslock key. keymap: aabbcc Maps new keys to old keys. Format: <new key><old key><new key><old key>... see section 5.1.

keepInfo: 15 How many updates (frames) to keep the info windows (activated by i and I ) on the screen.

keepPeace: on Keep peace with races after death. Useful so you don't have to reset your war declarations window every time you start a new ship.

logging: off displays messages to stdout (i.e. writes them on the console) if set.

logfile: (filename) ... or, alternatively saves messages to a text file (see above option).

macroKey: X Name of key to use for macro escape (TAB,ESC, or <key>). I like using TAB becuase it's easy to hit, better than the default 'X' which requires two
keystrokes. metaCache: [none] Filename of metaserver cache file; this file will be sued to display a serverlist if the metaserver is unreachable or -k is specified on the
command line.

metaserver: metaserver.ecst.csuchico.edu Computer to use as the metaserver

metaport: 3521 Port to connect to metaserver on motionThresh: 16 How many pixels to move (x+y) before each simulated button-press when using continuousMouse mode.

newdashboard: off Use the "new" dashboard. Has graphs instead of text, now the standard. Needs dashboard on.

newdashboard2: off Use new the other "new " dashboard (Cup half full vs. Cup half empty).

newDistress: on Distress calls are right justified if this is on. newPlanetBitmaps: off Use MOO style planet bitmaps.

newPlist: off New playerlist, instead of total kills, deaths offense and defense it shows login and stats (off+bomb+planet).

phaserShrink: 0 (integer 0-16) Don't draw the first "phaserShrink"/16 th of your phaser. This makes it easier to see incomming torps.

phaserWindow: off Show phaser-hit messages in seperate window. Equivalent to "review_phaser.mapped: on". (See section on window placements)

playerList: Playerlist format. See section 4.2.

playerListStyle: The style for the player list. See section 4.2. The options are: (0) Custom player list as defined by the playerlist variable above, (1) Old player list, (2) Traditional COW player list, (3) Kill watch player list, (4) BRMH Player list. If "playerListStyle" is set, newPlist is ignored. Use the options menu (shift-O) to try the different styles. rejectMacro: off If on, COW automatically stops NEWMACROs from being sent when the server has turned NEWMACROs off. That is any macro in your defaults file defined by a mac.*.*: (TEXT) line.

reportKills: on Show kill messages.

ROMVLVS: off Use "ROMVLVS" bitmaps for Rom team. Kinda cool. Default rom CA bitmaps are SO dorky-looking. singleMacro: FE List of macros that can be invoked with a single keypress (i.e. don't have to press the macro key first to enter macro mode.) The defualt setting puts the "carrying" and "distress" macros on single keys.

shellTools: on If off, this disables shelling out to commands from COW. shiftedMouse: on Use shift and control for extra mouse buttons (e.g. buttons 4-c)

shortKillMesg: off Shrink and line up all kill messages.

showFuelOnLocal: Make border color indicate fuel status.

showGalactic: 1 Map window planet bitmaps display: 0 -- show owner, 1 -- show resoures, 2 -- show nothing.

showIND: off Mark independent planets with X's drawn over them. showLocal: 1 Local window planet bitmaps display: 0 -- show owner, 1 -- show resoures, 2 -- show nothing.

showLock: 3 Options for lock triangle display. 0 -- dont show lock, 1 -- show on galactic, 2 -- show on local, 3 -- show on both.

showMapPlanetNames: on Show planet names on map (galactic) window

showmotd: on Display motd if in wait queue

showMySpeed: off Display your current speed next to player number on tactical display.

showPlanetNames: on Show planet names on local (tactical) window

showPlanetOwner: on Show planet owner on local (tactical) window showPlayerStatus: off Player list: also show players who are not alive.

showShields: on Show ship shields. Why would anyone want to turn this off?

showStats: on Show stats window . You can accomplish the same thing with "stats.mapped: <on/off>" but it's here anyway. This option is made superflous with the newdashboard options.

showTractorPressor: on Show your own tractor/pressor on the screen.

shrinkPhaserOnMiss: off Use "phaserShrink" and "theirPhaserShrink" even if a phaser misses. sortPlayers: off Use sorted player list.

sortMyTeamFirst: off Modifies "sortPlayers" so that your team is sorted immediately before the enemy teams.

sound: on Enable sound effects sounddir: ./sounds Directory to look in for sound files

theirPhaserShrink: 0 "phaserShrink" for other player's ships.

useLite: Use BeepLite, which highlights the planets and players that are the subject of people's messages when they use RCD.

useTNGBitmaps: Use The Next Generation bitmaps for the Federation ships.

updatespersec: 5 How many frames/sec the server should send. Max is 10. Note most servers do not support update rates higher than 5/sec.

varyShields: on Change shields bitmap to reflect your damage level.

warnShields: on Show current alert level (green, yellow, red) as shield color warnHull: Warn hull state based on damage .

warp: off Warp the mouse to the message window during message send. I personally prefer this because you can move your mouse out of the window in case something happens that you need to react to without aborting themessage.

waitMotd: on Show the motd while on the wait queue.

whichNewPlanetBitmaps: 0 The actually sets the same option internally as newPlanetBitmaps. 1 and 2 are, presumably, the Rabbit Ear bitmaps and the ZZ Minimal bitmaps.

zeroArgUsage: on If no arguments, print usage instead of connecting to default server.

Login Options:

defaultShip: CA Default ship to use on button-click entry (SC,DD,CA,BB,AS,SB).

name: <your_name_here> Your default character name.

password: <whatever> Your default password. If both name and password are supplied, many clients will attempt to log you in automatically.

Server Options: These can be used to set up server aliases and server-specific options

port: 2592 Default port to use.

port.<x.y.z>: 2592 Default port to use with server x.y.z. NOTE: if x.y.z is aliased (server.alias: x.y.z), use the alias instead.

newMesgFlags: on Server-dependent. Should be on for all new servers.

server: calvin.usc.edu Name of the default server to use if the -h flag isn't given.

server.alias: < x.y.z> Aliases. Replace x.y.z with full server name, and specify <alias>. From then on you can specify that server by doing 'netrek -h <alias>' instead of the full name

useRSA.x.y.z: on Use RSA on server x.y.z? NOTE: if x.y.z is aliased (server.alias: x.y.z), use the alias instead.

Window placments: These are of the form

<window>.geometry: <width>x<height>+<xpos+<ypos>

Or you can specifiy just the position:

<window>.geometrey: +<xpos>+<ypos>

or just the size:

<window>.geometry: <width>x<height>

Possible windows are:

netrek - main window local - Main fighting window map - Galactic map warn - warning window message - message window review - all messages window review_all - messages to all window review_team - messages to team window review_your - messages to individual window review_kill - kills messages window review_phaser - phaser hits window planet - planet list window player - playerlist window war - war declarations window fed - Fed selection window ori - Orion selection window rom - Romulan selection window kli - Klingon selection window quit - The quit countdown clock option - options menu window rank - rank window sound - sound options window stats - statistics window tstat - dasboard window help - help window UDP - UDP options window lagMeter - lag meter window pingStats - ping statistics window buttonkeymap - the key map window xtrekrc_help - the xtrekrc help window (duh) MetaServer List- (including the space) Metaserver window tools - the shell tools window DocWin - Documentation window xtrekrcWin - xtrekrc display window

You can specify whether windows are initially mapped (displayed), like this:

<window>.mapped: <on/off>.

You can also specify parenting of windows. If one window is a child of another, when that window's parent is hidden or displayed, the child window will also be hidden or displayed. Also, a window that is not parented may have a caption on it, depending on your window manager or OS.

For examples of all of these, see the example netrekrc.

Technical Options:

dontPing: off Don't attempt to start ping packets from the server.

forceDisplay: [ WinCOW only ] Force display type. This overrides the display auto-detection. 0 = monochrome or 16, color, 1 = 256 color, 2 = 16/24 bit color.

forceMono: Force monochrome display. (Actually, color is still used, but the colors are chosen so that they map correctly to black/white.)

netStatFreq: 5 Lag stats update: 1 -- least often, 10 -- most often.

netstats: off Keep lag statistics. Bringing up the lagmeter ('l') will toggle this anyway, but it's there.

redrawDelay: 0 if >0, does a screen refresh only every n/10 sec (useful for slow displays and high lag).

tryUdp: on Try to use UDP upon entering the game.

tryShort: off Try using short packets upon entering the game. [Windows client: the default netrekrc file included turns this on as it really helps over SLIP. ]

udpClientRecv: 1 How UDP packets should be received. Possibilites are: 0 -- use TCP (no UDP), 1 -- use simple UDP, 2 -- use fat UDP. Try setting this to 2 if you are getting a lot of server to client packet loss.

udpClientSend: 1 How UDP packets should be sent. Possibilites are: 0 -- use TCP (no UDP), 1 -- use simple UDP, 2 -- use enforced UDP (state only), 3 -- use enforced UDP (state & weapon). The "enforced" modes will repeat the UDP packets if the client doesn't get a response from the server, on the assumption that the packet got lost. Try using 2 or 3 if you are getting a lot of client to server packet loss.

udpDebug: 0 Level of UDP code debugging. You may enjoy seeing debug trace messages.

udpSequenceChk: on Throw out udp packets that arrive out of order. This is a good idea.

updatesPerSecond: 5 Number of updates (frames) per second (most servers limit to 5).

useRSA: on Use RSA binary verification. If you turn this off you will not be able to play on many servers.

8. Example .xtrekrc

Thanks to Jaime Allistair for this. This is an insanely long netrekrc (or xtrekrc, same thing). It has almost all the options available in COW in it. It is not really meant to be used as is! It is meant to be an example and to be edited down to what you need. Why shouldn't you use it? Well, you can, but there are a lot of lines that just set things to their defaults and this serves no purpose, just makes the client load slower and take up more memory.

# xtrekrc file for Netrek # version: .01 # date: 3-1-95

# The purpose of of this xtrekrc file is to have all the options available # to anyone who wants to make a change to the xtrekrc. This file will # bring up all the message windows. This will help in the area of newbies # not reading messages because they do not know how to get a message window # up.

# If you have any changes, typos, fixes, additions, or any things # that were left out, please email me. I will try to make these files # grow with the clients, as the client grows.

# EMAIL: jaime@diamondmm.com # NAME: Jaime Pirnie

# Enjoy!

# /-----------------------\ # | ### Login Options ### | # \-----------------------/

#-------------------- # Name # Your automatic character login name

name: allister

#-------------------- # Password # Your default character login password

password: secret

#-------------------- # Default Ship type # # Your default ship type # # AS = Assault Ship # BB = Battleship # DD = Destroyer # CA = Cruiser # SC = Scout

defaultShip: CA

# /------------------------\ # | ### Server Options ### | # \------------------------/

#-------------------- # Default Server port # Default server port to use

port: 2592

#-------------------- # New Message Flags # Server-dependent. Should be on for all new servers

newMesgFlags: on

#-------------------- # Default Server # Name of the default server if the -h flag is not used

server: factoryx.factoryx.com

#-------------------- # Server Aliases # # Server aliases. Syntax: [server.alias: <x.y.z>] Replace x.y.z with full # server name, and specify <alias>. From then on you can specify that # server by doing 'netrek -h <alias>' instead of the full server name. # Below is an alias for wormhole.

server.wormhole: wormhole.ecst.csuchico.edu

#-------------------- # Use RSA on a specific server # Use RSA on server x.y.z? NOTE: if x.y.z is aliased (server.alias: x.y.z), # use the alias instead. # Below it tells it to use RSA on wormhole.

useRSA.wormhole: on

# /---------------------------\ # | ### Technical Options ### | # \---------------------------/

#-------------------- # Don't Ping # Don't attempt to start ping packets from the server

dontPing: off

#-------------------- # Force Display type # # Force the display type for the client # NOTE: Windows client ONLY # # 0 = monochrome or 16 colors # 1 = 256 colors # 2 = 16/24 bit color

forceDisplay: 1

#-------------------- # Force monochrome display # (actually, color is still used internally, but # the colors are chosen so that they map correctly to black & white.)

forceMono:

#-------------------- # Network statistics frequency # # Lag stats update # # 1 = least often # 2 = a bit more often # | # | # \|/ # 10 = most often #

netStatFreq: 3

#-------------------- # Network Statistics # # Keep lag statistics # (Bringing up the lagmeter ('l') will toggle this anyway, but its there)

netstats: off

#-------------------- # Try UPD packets # Try to use UDP upon entering the game

tryUDP: on

#-------------------- # Try short packets # Try using short packets upon entering the game # (Windows client: This really help for SLIP connections)

tryShort: on

#-------------------- # UDP Client Receive # # How UDP packets should be received # # 0 = TCP # 1 = simple UDP # 2 = fat UDP

udpClientReceive: 2

#-------------------- # UDP Client Send # # How UDP packets should be sent # # 0 = TCP # 1 = simple UDP # 2 = enforced UDP (state only) # 3 = enforced UDP (state & weapon)

udpClientSend: 3

#-------------------- # UDP Debugging Level # Level of UDP code debugging. You may enjoy seeing debug trace messages.

udpDebug: 0

#-------------------- # UDP Sequence Checking # Throw out UDP packets that arrive out of order. This is a good idea.

udpSequenceChk: on

#-------------------- # Updates Per Second # Number of updates (frames) per second (most servers limit to 5)

updatesPerSecond: 5

#--------------------- # Use RSA binary varification. # If you turn this off you will not be able # to play on many servers.

useRSA: on

#--------------------- # I have no idea ????? Anybody know??!

useTRports:

# /---------------------------\ # | ### Features, options ### | # \---------------------------/

#-------------------- # Ask For Update # Get full update from server when you enter the game. This is a good # idea when using UDP and/or short packets.

askForUpdate: on

#-------------------- # Mouse Button Map # # Maps mouse buttons to key functions # Format: <button><key>... just like the keymap # Available buttons: # # 1 = left # 2 = middle # 3 = right # 4 = Shift+Left # 5 = Shift+Middle # 6 = Shift+Right # 7 = Control+Left # 8 = Control+Middle # 9 = Control+Right # a = Shft+Ctrl+Left # b = Shft+Ctrl+Middle # c = Shft+Ctrl+Right

buttonmap: 1a2p3k

#--------------------- # Cloak Characters # The characters to use to show cloaked ships on the galactic map. # Popular choices are: # # () # <> # >< # ??

cloakChars: ??

#--------------------- # Clock Type # # Which type of clock to show # # 0 = No clock # 1 = hh:mm # 2 = hh:mm:ss

clock: 2

#-------------------- # Continue Tractor Beam # Show tractor beam at all times when locked # If off, it will only show tractor beam for a short time.

continueTractor: on

#-------------------- # Continuous Mouse # Allows you to hold down a mouse button, it will have the same effect if # you hit the button rapidly.

continuousMouse: on

#-------------------- # Dashboard # Use a dashboard (LAB) style for the stats line.

dashboard: on

#-------------------- # Use alternate dashboard # (Cup half full vs. Cup half empty) dashboard. # NOTE: Requires dashboard on.

newdashboard: on

#-------------------- # Use the new new dashboard

newnewdashboard: on

#-------------------- # Use the new dashboard2

newdashboard2: on

#-------------------- # Use default BeepLite RCD highlighting (?)

defLite: on

#-------------------- # Enemy Phasers # Width of enemy phaser lines. Mostly useful on mono displays so you can # distinguish your phasers from enemy phasers.

ememyPhasers: 1

#-------------------- # Extra Alert Border # Use inside border for alert status

extraAlertBorder: on

#-------------------- # Fill Lock Triangle # If locks are shown, whether or not to fill the lock triangle.

fillTriangle: off

#-------------------- # Galactic Map Updates # Update Galactic map frequently. This is good for phaser locking cloakers.

galacticFrequent: on

#-------------------- # Keyboard Keymap # Maps new keys to old keys. Format: <new key><old key><new key><old key> ...

keymap: attT p

#-------------------- # Keep Info on screen # How many updates (frames) to keep the info windows (activated by i and I) # on the screen.

keepInfo: 15

#-------------------- # Keep Peace after Death # Keep peace with races after death. Useful so you dont have to reset your # war declarations window every time you start a new ship.

keepPeace: on

#-------------------- # Message Log # Log all messages to a file.

logMessage: off

#-------------------- # Macro Escape Key # Name of the key used for macro escape (TAB,ESC, or <key>). I like using # ESC because it is easy to hit, butter than the default 'X' which requires # two keystrokes.

macroKey: ESC

#-------------------- # Meta Server List level # # Tells the client what to list when using the MetaServer. # # 0 Servers which have players but not a wait queue. # 1 + Servers with a wait queue. # 2 + Servers with nobody playing. (see NOTE1). # 3 + Servers which have Timed Out for the MetaServer (see NOTE2). # 4 + Servers which the MetaServer has not been able to connect to.

metaStatusLevel: 4

#--------------------- # Motion Threshhold # How many pixels (x+y) before each simulated button-press when using # continuous mause mode.

motionThresh: 16

#--------------------- # New Planet Bitmaps # Use MOO style planet bitmaps

newPlanetBitmaps: on

#--------------------- # Player List Style # # 0 Custom player list # 1 Old player list # 2 Traditional COW player list # 3 Kill watch player list # 4 BRMH Player list

playerListStyle: 1

#--------------------- # New Player List # Reduced stats format for the player list. # Can also be toggled with the '\' key.

newPlayerList: off newPlist: off

#--------------------- # User Configurable Player List # Use ('\') to toggle between your player list, and the stock one (or # visa/versa depending on the status of newplist or newplayerlist). # With newPlayerList or newPlist set to on (depending on your client), # it will use the user configurable player list as the default. If set # to off, it will use the stock player list as the default. Again, # the ('\') key toggles between the two. # # Here are the possible columns: # # Spc Let Name Header # --- --- -------------------- ------------------- # 3 'n' Ship Number " No" # 3 'T' Ship Type " Ty" # 11 'R' Rank " Rank " # 17 'N' Name " Name " # 6 'K' Kills " Kills" # 17 'l' Login Name " Login " # 6 'O' Offense " Offse" # 6 'W' Wins " Wins" # 6 'D' Defense " Defse" # 6 'L' Losses " Loss" # 6 'S' Total Rating (stats) " Stats" # 6 'r' Ratio " Ratio" # 8 'd' Damage Inflicted(DI) " DI" # 1 ' ' White Space " " # 6 'B' Bombing " Bmbng" # 6 'b' Armies Bombed " Bmbed" # 6 'P' Planets " Plnts" # 6 'p' Planets Taken " Plnts" # 17 'M' Display/Host Machine " Host Machine " # 7 'H' Hours Played " Hours " # 6 'k' Max Kills " Max K" # 6 'V' Kills per Hour " KPH" # 6 'v' Deaths per Hour " DPH" #

playerlist: nTMSBbPpHkVv

#--------------------- # Phaser Messages (client dependent) # # 0 = none # 1 = all # 2 = team # 3 = indiv # 4 = kill # 5 = total

PhaserMsg: 5

#--------------------- # Phaser Messages in Individual Window (See also phaserwindow) # Displays the phaser hit points in the individual window.

phaserMsgI: on

#--------------------- # Phaser Window # Show Phaser hit messages in separate window. (See also # reveiw_phaser for default mapping and geometry)

phaserWindow: on

#--------------------- # Unknown.. Anybody know?!

planetCycleTime: 8

#--------------------- # Unknown.. Anybody know?!

refreshInterval:

#--------------------- # Report Kill Messages # Shows kill messages

reportKills: on

#--------------------- # ROMVLVS bitmaps for Rom Team

ROMVLVS: on

#--------------------- # Single Macro Keys # List of macros that can be invoked with a single keypress # (i.e. dont have to press the macro key first to enter macro mode)

singleMacro: FE

#--------------------- # Shifted Mouse buttons # Allows you to use shift and control keys for extra mouse buttons # (this would be for mouse buttons 4-c)

shiftedMouse: off

#--------------------- # Short Kill Messages # This option shirinks and lines up all the kill messages. # It makes it easyer to see if somebody was killed while carrying # armies or not.

shortKillMesg: on

#--------------------- # Show Fuel on Local # This makes the border color indicate fuel status

showFuelOnLocal: off

#--------------------- # Show Galactic # This option sets what is shown on the planet bitmaps # # 0 = show owner # 1 = show recources # 2 = show nothing

showGalactic: 1

#--------------------- # Show Local # This option sets what is shown on the local planet bitmaps # # 0 = show owner # 1 = show recources # 2 = show nothing

showLocal: 1

#--------------------- # Show Lock Triangle # # 0=don't show # 1=galactic only # 2=tactical only # 3=both

showLock: 3

#--------------------- # Show Map Planet Names # This option shows on the map (galactic) window.

showMapPlanetNames: on

#--------------------- # Show my Speed # This option prints your current speed next to your player number in your # tactical display.

showMySpeed: off

#--------------------- # Show Planet Names # This option shows the planet names on the local (tactical) window.

showPlanetNames: on

#--------------------- # Show Player Status # This option, when on, shows players in the player list who are not alive.

showPlayerStatus: on

#--------------------- # Show Shields # This option lets you see your ships shields.

showShields: on

#--------------------- # Show Stats # Shows the stats window. You can accomplish this same thing # with "stats.mapped: <on/off>" but its here as well.

showStats: off

#--------------------- # Show Tractor / Pressor Beams # This option lets you see your own tractor/pressor beams.

showTractorPressor: on

#--------------------- # Sort Player List # This option sorts the players in the player list according to team.

sortPlayers: on

#--------------------- # BeepLite # This option turns on BeepLite. This highlights the planets and players # that are the subject of people's messages when they use RCD.

useLite: on

#--------------------- # Display last message # This option displays the last message in the warning message window.

useMsgw: off

#--------------------- # Use [T]he [N]ext [G]eneration style bitmaps # Need I say more?

useTNGBitmaps: on

#--------------------- # Updates Per Second # How many frames/sec the server should send. Max is 10.

updatesPerSecond: 10

#--------------------- # Vary Shields # This option changes the shield bitmap to reflect your shield damage.

varyShields: on

#--------------------- # Warn Hull state # Warns you on hull state based off of damage.

warnHull: on

#--------------------- # Mouse Cursor Warp # Warp the mouse to the message window during message send. This # used to be useful when you have to have the mouse cursor in the message # window to type a message.

warp: off

#--------------------- # Show MOTD # This option shows the [M]essage [O]f [T]he [D]ay while in the wait queue.

waitMotd: on

#--------------------- # Which New Planet Bitmaps # This option actually sets the same option internally as newPlanetBitmaps. # 1 and 2 are, presumably, the Rabbit Ear bitmaps and the ZZ Minimal bitmaps.

whichNewPlanetBitmaps: 2

#--------------------- # Zero Argument Usage # This option when on: If no arguments, print usage instead of connecting # to the default server.

zeroArgUsage: on

# /-------------------------\ # | ### Window Placment ### | # \-------------------------/

#--------------------- # Window Placment syntax (geometry) # # This displays the size, and position of the window. # <window>.geometry:<width>x<height>+<xpos>+<ypos> # # This displays just the position of the window. # <window>