Hello!  Welcome to
***********************
*SLASH'EM ver 0.0.3E8!*
***********************
A Nethack Variant

What is the Nature of this Beast?
---------------------------------
It's Nethack 3.2.2 (nethack-bugs@linc.cis.upenn.edu)
Combined with SLASH6
        ==>  SLASH 4.1.2E8 from Enrico Horn(enhorn@Wirtschaft.TU-Ilmenau.De)
        SLASH is Super-Lotso-Added-Stuff-Hack.  Pretty much, it's Nethack
        with more spells, monsters,  artifacts, character classes and
        other added features.

Throwing in the Wizard Patch 0.7
        Larry Stewart-Zerba(larry@cs.uq.edu.au) and
        Warwick Allison (warwick@cs.uq.edu.au)

        The Wizard Patch takes the skills system in Nethack 3.2.2 and extends
        it to include spellcasting abilities.  It also added some spells.
        As a note, I chose not to include (left commented out)  the
        decreased power regeneration code.

Enriched with additional tiles by
        Dirk Schnberger (shoenberger@signsoft.com)

Add half a pound of bugfixes,  new spells,  tweaked/new special abilities,
        random features as they come to yours truly

Toss in some submissions from other Nethackers

==>  SLASH'EM - Super Lotsa Added Stuff Hack - Extended Magic!
        (OK,  the name needs work - Feel free to suggest!)

        An important note - it may not be completely clear,  but this is
BETATEST software.  Unfortunately,  I'm a university student with limited
time and who knows how effective programming techniques - therefore,
I'm sorry to have to warn you that things often go wrong.  I will
of course be very happy to address any problems you come in gameplay.
As well,  none of the problems are deliberate - even if game crashing bugs
kill your Ascension Kit(tm) equipped super character,  I really didn't
mean it.  Usually, it is frowned upon to perform backups,  but
in this case,  I have to recommend that you do so,  just in case
something happens that may destroy your character.  Sorry about this!
As a side note,  using the keep_savefile should almost double your vigilence
in keeping backups,  as there seems to be a savefile expanding bug that
can slow down the game significantly.
        This release is mainly to address the fatal monster polymorph
bugs.  Pretty much,  the variable in charge of keeping track of the monster's
original form is overwriting some part of memory it shouldn't.  So that is
bad.  Savefiles are NOT compatible...
        I, of course, always welcome fresh bug reports.  And suggestions!
Suggestions are implemented usually with a rapidity which corresponds with
the amount of code fiddling involved in getting it to work a little bit
of luck, my programming skills and stumbling upon the right parts of the
source code.
        Thanks to everyone who has sent nice e-mails - it's great being
thanked for work I do for fun :B
        But anyhow, have fun playing (I mean, beta testing ... that's right)
with it!  Your part is playing (and enjoying) and sending in any problems
you have with my "decisions" (most of which were 'it's 2 am ... where will I
put this...' type of thoughts),  any bugs and suggestions!  Constructive
comments only, please,  as usual.
        By the way,  if anyone goes to the hassle to write a full-fledged
*review* of this,  I'd be very interested in how this does ... ;B
        As well,  I've just received patches with bugfixes
for my less than exemplary code.  Feel free to point out my stupidity, or
send in/point me towards other patches ;B

Theoretical System Requirements
-------------------------------
===>DOS PORT
------------
IBM PC 386SX or greater
DOS or compatible OS
Minimum 3 Megabytes of DPMI memory - RAM or virtual memory
        (DOS port includes a freeware DPMI manager)
Minimum 2 Megabytes of Hard Drive Space (More for Save files)
For Sound: PC Speaker
For Tiles: VGA (640x480x16)

Recommended
-----------
486 or higher processor
4 Megabytes of RAM (1 Meg Disk Cache)
VGA (640x480x16)

Also Available
--------------
Linux port (tty and Qt)
OS/2 EMX port (tty)


Quick Start:  How To Play
-------------------------
-To start a game of SLASH'EM,  go to the directory you unzipped it into
        and type
                SLASHEM
        Type in the name for your alter ego,  and select a character class
        Select a gender and alignment,  if necessary
        Once you're on the dungeon map,  use the arrow keys to move around
        (or the standard roguelike keys,  if your turn off number_pad)
        Walk into monsters to attack them.  Help is the '?' key,
        inventory is 'i'.
        Try out the new menu system by hitting '`' (tilde).

-To use the slamXXX.pat file, you need the patch.exe program.
        Go into the top directory of the unpacked SLASH sources.  
        (eg.  C:\GAMES\SLASH) and type:

        patch -p 1 < slamXXX.pat

        That should do it!

The Optional Things
-------------------
-To get the VGA tiles,  you need to edit the slashem.cnf file.  Find the
        line that says

        #OPTIONS=video:autodetect

        and change it to

        OPTIONS=video:autodetect

-There are a couple of new options that can be set in the 'O'ptions menu
        These all default to false

        showdmg:        shows dmg done onto monsters (sometimes) and
                        dmg recieved
        keep_savefile:  allows you to not delete the savefile.
                        (please note that this could detract from your
                        enjoyment of the game)

The New Surprises That You Are Supposed to Find While Playing
-------------------------------------------------------------
TODO
-monster players?
-Rambo fire explosion bow
-trample with jump?
-push splat with boulder
-change lord vlad.... to Count Drakula for undead slayer quest?
-allow lifesaving if in high favor with god?
-pull dog through closed doors with leash
-Angband easy patch stuffs add?
-monsters blowing open doors to get to you - zapping, etc.
        (monmove.c - doorbuster)
-hypernutritious food?
-sleep
-force door - shoulder, axes
-chatting == buy and sell?
-some way of determining weapon alignment for artys?
-raise dead spell?!!
-fix arty align
-clean up *. in util

ver 0.0.3E8 [June XX/1998]

ver 0.0.3E7 [June 11/1998]
-fixed undeleted light source when artifacts are destroyed
        (extern.h, mkobj.c, artifact.c, light.c)
-fixed PYEC doing a level teleport when "nothing happens" (artifact.c)
-Elves/Drow now have expert quarterstaff skill - quest arty for Drow
        is Tentacle Staff (u_init.c)
-Gnomes now have expert pickaxe skill - their quest arty was a pickaxe,
        no less! (u_init.c)
-dragons and other monsters with door destroying breath weapons will
        use their breath weapon do destroy doors (monmove.c, mthrowu.c, extern.h)
-acid will melt away doors (zap.c)
-rings of strength can now counter robe of weakness (attrib.c)
-gauntlets of power and rings of strength can now work in tandem. (attrib.c)
-gauntlets of power will now only counteract effect of robe of weakness.
        (attrib.c)
-pickaxes now have a bonus against statue gargoyles and stone golems
        (weapon.c)
-wands of digging now affect earth elementals, xorns, statue gargoyles,
        stone golems and boulders. (dig.c, zap.c)
-can now quiver secondary weapons and wield quivered weapons (wield.c)
-spell cure sickness, Healers' and Knights' special ability will remove
        slime. (spell.c, cmd.c)
-not penalized for trying to reinforce a spell that doesn't need
        to be.  (spell.c)
-did all kinds of funny things to hopefully fix the "bad monsndx" bug.
        -removed messages
        -changed variable from a permonst pointer to an int PM array #
        -moved variable...was conflicting with mextra array
        (timeout.c, makemon.c,  monst.h)
-eroded and other adjetives can have funny caps now when wishing (objnam.c)
-Thiefbane should now exist as an artifact weaponand wishable
        (objnam.c, artilist.h)
-changed Lord Vlad the Impaler to Count Dracula. Yes,  I know they are
        related,  but one is fiction,  the other is real
        (monst.c, monsters.txt, slayer.des, questpgr.c)
-spoon named Houchou is a chaotic artifact - 9999 damage when thrown
        and hits :)
        (uhitm.c, dothrow.c, weapon.c,  mthrowu.c)
-spoon is now normal object - no special abilities.
-'\' shows intrinsic and discoveries on same screen  - intrinsic knowledge
        is prefixed with a "*" (o_init.c)

ver 0.0.3E6 [June 04/1998]
-will no longer see correct name for priests, minions, angels when
        hallucinating (do_name.c)
-valkyries now get a +1 spear rather than a long sword (u_init.c)
-monks no longer get spellbooks of sleep - spellbooks of resist sickness
        instead (u_init.c)
-'\' command now also shows "Intrinsic" knowledge
-can now wish for Graywand, Staff of Withering, Hand/Eye of Vecna,
        Stake of Van Helsing, Wallet of Perseus, Medallion of Shifters
        (objnam.c)
-can now wish for an aklys (objnam.c)
-made w_swapwep and w_quiver 0200000000L and 0400000000L
        hopefully remove problem of randomly occurring (secondary weapon)
        and (in quiver) (obj.h)
-removed tempwep - unused (wield.c, worn.c, decl.c, decl.h, obj.h)
-added keyboard accelerators to slamfaq.txt
-"bad monster weapon" bug when corpse wielded by a monster rots away fixed
        (dig.c)
-exploding wands of polymorph and drinking potions of polymorph
        no longer cause polymorphing on Blackmarket level (potion.c, apply.c)
-"let me run run my fingers through your hair" succubus message fixed
        (mhitu.c)
-the "Strange...nothing much happens" when 'B' quaff potions no longer
        id's the potion.  Message is now standard nothing happening message
        (potion.c)
-only burning explosion destroys player corpse (explode.c)
-death by exploding monster is now recorded correctly (explode.c, mon.c)
-problem with petshop shopkeeper's names fixed? (shknam.c)
-dipping objects into potions of polymorph now causes object polymorphing
        (potion.c)
-version (normal and extended) now display game name as per DEF_GAME_NAME
        (defined in patchlev.h (or patchlevel.h))
        (makedefs.c)
-pc versions now have "Welcome to DEF_GAME_NAME" as defined in patchlev.h
        (pcmain.c)
-made guidebook short name #ifdef SHORT_FILENAMES (global.h)
-added Title bar changing for DOS boxes under Win95 (pcmain.c, msdos.c)
-system shock now does damage to monsters rather than just killing outright
        -polymorph traps can now cause system shock (trap.c, zap.c)
-polymorphed monsters will revert to old forms after a period of time
        -potions, spells/zaps, traps
        (extern.h, timeout.c, zap.c,  light.c, trap.c)
-graves should no longer in "unique" rooms (mklev.c)
-save_prompt has been merged with keep_save...however,  use with caution.  It
        seems that there are buglets in the save/restore code... (save.c)
-bullwhip won't be able to yank out cursed weapons
        (apply.c, muse.c)
-replaced mine levels with 3.2.2 levels. Removed minefill.des and
        mineend.des (mines.des, dungeon.def)
-monsters will no longer wield non-petrifying corpses. (weapon.c)
-troll mummies leave troll corpses (mon.c)
-eating petrification egg now results in correct final screen message
-artifact wishing is back the way it used to be (objnam.c)
-the inventory accessible by the '*' key now has the right appendages
        when polymorphed (invent.c)
-monster casting spells will no longer create pools of water
        on top of pools of water, altars,  clouds or in the air. (mcastu.c)
-wands of create horde will act similarly to wands of create monster
        if applied/exploded (explosive blast will be 2x stronger though)
        (apply.c)
-let you loot a chest on top of a grave (pickup.c)
-characters with intrinsic/automatic special powers no longer
        lose a turn. (cmd.c)
-monsters hitting monsters take silver, stake damage (mhitm.c)
-monsters hitting you with stakes do bonus damage if you're vampire
        (mhitu.c)
-fixed bug where monster name and corpse name were mixed up with monster
        hitting you with corpse (mhitu.c)
-monsters use stakes (weapon.c)
-Stake of Van Helsing always has 1/20 chance of vaporizing vampires
        (uhitm.c)
-Ogre king is now level 9 (monst.c) - used to be 7 (same as Ogre Lord!)
-removed save_prompt as it was causing savefile problems (save.c)
-'B' should no longer get spellbooks from praying. (pray.c)
-chickatrice grows into cockatrice,  hatches from cockatrice eggs.
        (mondata.c)
-master mind flayer get mental blast and telepathy
        (polyself.c,  cmd.c, monmove.c, allmain.c)
-Rodney summons
        -vamp mages rather than lords
        -master mind flayers rather than mind flayers
        (wizard.c)
-vampire mages leave human corpses (mon.c)
-piles of killer coins will "grow up" to large and huge piles (mondata.c)
-fixed applying wands of enlightenment (apply.c)
-fixed inventories so ice mage/flame mages can't have doubled spellbooks
        (u_init.c)
-more fixes from Max
        -fixed spell % success inconsistencies (spell.c)
        -fixed bracketing and casting
                (apply.c, artifact.c,  ball.c, botl.c, cmd.c,
                detect.c, do_wear.c, dog.c, dogmove.c, do_throw.c,
                eat.c, engrave.c, explode.c,  files.c, fountain.c,
                hacklib.c, invent.c, makemon.c, mhitu.c,  mkobj.c,
                mon.c, music.c,  objnam.c, options.c,  potion.c,
                pray.c,  read.c,  sp_lev.c, trap.c, uhitm.c, wield.c,
                worn.c, zap.c
        -limited "chain combo" of 'L' to 4 hits (give the enemy a chance to
                dodge) (uhitm.c)
        -added more extern fcns (extern.h)
        -prototypes (hack.h)
        -added SVR4 to machines that need msleep(k) redefined (unixconf.h)

        -tweaked special ability durations again (cmd.c)
-fixed turning to stone when engulfing.  Forgot a ! in an if statement ;B
        (uhitm.c)
-remove extra period in "caught himself in his own ...."  (explode.c)
-'c' is always lawful (u_init.c)
-'u', 'v' weapon id special ability no longer crashes when attempting to
        id non-weapons (cmd.c)
-optimization has been dropped to O2 to prevent compile errors (makefile)
-snuffing out candle of eternal flame - used wrong object variable (apply.c)

Testing What's There
--------------------
If you want to see the fireworks right off the bat,  be my guest.
Use wizard mode for testing.  Makes life easier/faster.
Check lycanthrope slashing
        -choose the Lycanthrope class
        -Gain a few levels(^J) then summon a fair sized monster.
        -Hit Alt-E and let'er rip!
        -(Hint:  you have to hit the monster once before the fun starts
         This special ability is useless if you can't hit the monster in
         the first place.)
Check Mega Fireball/spell
        -use a Wizard or a Mage class
        -wish for blessed spellbook of fireball/cone of cold/magic missile
        -#enhance matter spell(fireball/cold) or attack spell(magmissile)
         to skilled level
        -Gain a few levels until fail rate is reasonable
        -toast'em!

What's to come
--------------
Whatever I can manage!  Bug fixing!  New spells!  New features!

Current Ideas:
-make all of slash'em ifdef! Probably not until Nethack 4.0 comes out ;B
-christmas! New Quests?
-trap doors lead to same place?
-Different sized levels (for custom levs)
-more quests (randomized - wipe out the xxx, save the xxx, etc.)
-"ethos" - imposed ethics (eg vegetarian, naked,
        illiterate - no books/scrolls/engraving
        magic-only, atheism (no prayer) etc.)
        with scoring bonuses                
-scoring bonuses for /w pets based on # turns?
-OPTIONAL haggling
-pool of water, psi bolt, drain strength, destroy armour (directable <g>)
        confusion, curse items
-Cleric:  insects/snake summon?, blindness, wounding, hold
-Drain life spell for Necromancer?
-make warning more useful?
-different goodbyes? (languages)
-different weapon startsets (eg. slayer)
-more holidays, special days? (Thanksgiving, Christmas)
-level generator problem of 2 special levels on same level one of them
                unavailable - in the .des file?
                -due to .des file - overlapping branches
-"you caitliff"  message from knights final blow
                try knights vs mimics
-change dungeon map size (global.h ROWNO, COLNO)
-new map types?
-arena
-library
-polymorph abusive?
-training hall
-bar? hiring "pets"
-food with different timers in same slot?
-holy hand grenade of antioch?
-pets getting intrinsics/stun from corpses?
-"i see nobody there" when chatting + blind
        -should still be able to chat?
-wand of death exploding as disintegration?
-various different types of lycanthropes?
        (u_init.c)
-do splash directions for oil
-burning fires
-dual wield?
-modifiable encumber warning level?
        -check for prev_cap = MOD_ENCUMBER
        -pickup.c, hack.h
-eating...stop...attack gelat cube...frozen ... finally finished msg?
-score list:  average score,  by player,  total score, etc., by class
        (topten.c)
-not averaging age of food on pickup? (invent.c)
-various were types for Lycanthrope?
-enhance missile weapons?
-"word of power" spellcasting?
-shopkeepers blocking mons w/ pickaxes
        -defending players in shops
-watchmen defending players in towns?
-martial artists being able to catch projectiles at Expert skill?
        shield deflect shots?
-shopkeepers repair pits?
-druid, illusion
-gnome animal affinity, go through cracks?

Baseline
--------
This is being compiled on a Win95 120 MHz Pentium (Hewlett Packard
Pavilion) with an S3 Trio video card,  Meschede's VESA 2.0 extensions,
Crystal Soundblaster compatible sound card, 1 GB Hard drive w/ approx. 30Megs
free.  Nethack is edited with MSDOS Edit 2.0.026 in one DOS box,  and
another DOS box for compiling/testing/playing.  I compile using DJGPP
V2.01 (only partially installed) and gnu make. As of 0.0.2E9,  I have used
the Pentium Group's version of EGCS,  PGCC (current version 1.0.1) to
compile Pentium optimized binaries at optimization -O6. Programming
experience includes Apple IIGS,  GW- and Q- BASIC, and QuakeC. DOS
binaries are compressed using DJP.  Archives zipped with DOS PKZIP
2.04g.

Contact
-------
More Ideas? Bug Reports?  Send them to wac@intergate.bc.ca (That's Me!)
Linux, Qt version is ported by Dirk Schnberger (shoenberger@signsoft.com)

Pillars of Strength
-------------------
Thanks to My Mom

Anthony Tang, Bibiana Wong, Sylvia Chan, Sylvia Chen, Geoffrey Cowan,
Rachel Chu, Huijin Kong,  Sandy Mak, Francesca Ranada,
Christine Tam, Joel Wagler, Geoffrey Wan and Katrin Veiel.

Acknowledgements
----------------
        Thanks to Ben Olmstead for mirroring the homepage.

        Thanks for the support and suggestions of (in no particular order):
        Dirk Schnberger,  Pat Rankin,  Linley Henzell,  0ystein Kerstad,
        Jim Miller, pi, Steven Uy, Alex Critchfield,  Mike Balcom,
        Sascha Wostmann, Drew Curtis, Daniel Krause, E. P. Dinklewhopper,
        Lord Gek, Lukas Geyer, Kresimir Kukulj, Brent Oster, Travis McKay,
        Jared Withington, Philippe-Antoine Menard, Ain Uustare, Doug Yanega,
        David Tang, Lief Clennon, Robert Laurence Herman, Petra Prinz,
        Aki Lumme.


Unfinished Tiles
----------------
Here are a list of the known,  unfinished tiles.  They show up as
Ogres.

Hydra, Ronin,  Giant Crab,  Undead Slayer,  Wyvern.  Many more.

=======================================================================
Author:  Warren 'WACko' Cheung (wac@intergate.bc.ca)
Homepage:  http://slashem.home.ml.org/
        which currently points to http://members.xoom.com/wac/nethack/
