rezrov - a pure Perl Infocom (z-code) game interpreter
rezrov game.dat [flags]
Rezrov is a program that lets you play Infocom game data files. Infocom's data files (e.g. "zork1.dat") are actually platform-independent "z-code" programs written for a virtual machine known as the "z-machine". Rezrov is a z-code interpreter which can run programs written in z-code versions 3 through 5 (nearly complete support) and 8 (limited support).
Rezrov's chief distinguishing feature among z-code interpreters is its cheat commands. It also features basic speech synthesis and recognition capabilities (when running under Windows, using the SAPI4 interface).
I/O operations have been abstracted to allow the games to be playable through any of several front-end interfaces. Normally rezrov tries to use the "best" interface depending on the Perl modules available on your system, but you can force the use of any of them manually.
Designed to work on nearly any Perl installation. Optionally uses Term::ReadKey and/or local system commands to guess the terminal size, clear the screen, and read the keyboard. Optionally uses Term::ReadLine to provide line-editing history, assuming a backend readline module is available (e.g. Term::ReadLine::Perl). While there is no status line or multiple window support, this interface is perfectly adequate for playing most version 3 games. Usage of the dumb interface can be forced with the "-dumb" command-line switch.
Makes use of the standard Term::Cap module to provide support for a status line and multiple windows. Usage of the Termcap interface can be forced with "-termcap".
Use the Curses module to improve upon the features available in the Termcap interface, adding support for color, clean access to all the lines on the screen, better keyboard handling, and some support for character graphics. Some problems remain: if you specify screen colors, the terminal may not be reset correctly when the program exits. Also, I've only tested this with a few versions of Curses (Linux/ncurses and Digital Unix's OEM curses), and was unpleasantly surprised by the difficulties I encountered getting this to work properly under both of them. Can be forced with "-curses".
Uses the Win32::Console module to act much like the Curses version. Only works under win32 (Windows 95, 98, etc). Force with "-win32".
Uses the Tk module; supports variable-width fonts and color. Requires the 800+ series of Tk; tested under Linux and the ActiveState binary distribution of perl under win32. Force with "-tk".
The simplest output model, even more stripped-down than the Dumb interface. It is meant for use in automated testing rather than interactive play, and to have no external dependencies. The interface has the following restrictions:
Terminal size detection is disabled. The geometry defaults to 80 columns by 25 rows, which may be overridden on the command line with the -columns and -rows switches.
The [MORE] prompt is disabled. This allows for scripts (see "-playback") to run commands producing large amounts of text without the interpreter thinking it needs to pause for the user to read them.
The status line is ignored, as are attempts to clear the screen or move the cursor.
The upper window is not available, and all output to it is silently suppressed. Unlike the "dumb" interface, no warning message will be generated in a game attempts to use the upper window.
Single-character input is not available, breaking some input styles and prompts.
Obviously this interface is only appropriate for games with the simplest I/O requirements. On the other hand, it "should" work on any Perl installation. I've received some reports from CPAN testers where even the "dumb" interface fails in ways I can't reproduce, probably related to the gyrations that module goes through to perform single-character input (via GetKey.pm) and detect the screen size (via GetSize.pm). Hopefully this interface will address these problems, and so test.pl now uses it. Use the "-test" command-line switch to enable.
Rezrov emulates a number of in-game commands which were either not or only sporadically available in version 3 games:
undo: undoes your previous turn. This allows you to recover from foolish or irresponsible behavior (walking around in the dark, jumping off cliffs, etc) without a saved game. You can undo multiple turns by repeatedly entering "undo"; the -undo switch can be used to specify the maximum number of turns that may be undone (default is 10).
oops: allows you to specify the correct spelling for a word you misspelled on the previous line. For example:
>give lmap to troll I don't know the word "lmap". >oops lamp The troll, who is not overly proud, graciously accepts the gift and not having the most discriminating tastes, gleefully eats it. You are left in the dark...
notify: has the game tell you when your score goes up or down. This is especially useful when playing without a status line (ie with the "dumb" interface).
#typo: toggles typo correction on or off. This feature attempts to automatically correct misspelled words by comparing them to words in the game's internal dictionary. This is modeled after the algorithm used by the Nitfol interpreter:
If the entered word is in the dictionary, behave normally.
If the length of the word is less than 3 letters long, give up. We don't want to make assumptions about what very short words might be.
If the word is the same as a dictionary word with one
transposition, assume it's that word ("exmaine" becomes
"examine").
If it is a dictionary word with one deleted letter, assume it's
that word ("botle" becomes "bottle").
If it is a dictionary word with one inserted letter, assume it's
that word ("tastey" becomes "tasty").
If it is a dictionary word with one substitution, assume it's
that word ("opin" becomes "open").
While often helpful, typo correction may not be desirable in some games where the user can (or is expected to) use non-dictionary words. This is a problem for example in Spellbreaker, where the user can label objects and then refer to them by those labels. Unfortunately, these user-defined names are not recognized by the typo correction code as legitimate because they are not stored in the game's dictionary. Apparently a similar problem occurs in Beyond Zork, possibly related to that game's environmental randomization features (anyone?).
Typo correction is enabled by default, and can be disabled on the command line with "-typo 0".
#reco: Writes a transcript of the commands you enter to the file you specify.
#unre: Stops transcripting initiated by the #reco command.
#comm: Plays back commands from the transcript file you specify. You can also start a game with recorded commands by specifying the "-playback" command-line option.
Rezrov also expands the following "shortcut" commands for games that do not support them:
x = "examine"
g = "again"
z = "wait"
l = "look"
o = "oops"
The "-cheat" command-line parameter enables the interpretation of several fun new verbs. Using these commands in a game you haven't played honestly will most likely ruin the experience for you. However, they can be entertaining to play around with in games you already know well. Note that none of them work if the game understands the word they use; for example, "Zork I" defines "frotz" in its dictionary (alternate verbs are available). You can turn cheating on and off from within the game by entering "#cheat".
teleport, #teleport: moves you to any room in the game. For example: "teleport living room". Location names are guessed so they all might not be available; see "rooms" command below. If you specify the name of an item, rezrov will attempt to take you to the room where the item is located.
pilfer: moves any item in the game to your current location, and then attempts to move it into your inventory. For example: "pilfer sword". Doesn't work for some objects (for example, the thief from Zork I). Can be dangerous -- for example, pilfering the troll from Zork I can be hazardous to your health.
Robot Shop This room, with exits west and northwest, is filled with robot-like devices of every conceivable description, all in various states of disassembly. Only one robot, about four feet high, looks even remotely close to being in working order.
>open robot In one of the robot's compartments you find and take a magnetic-striped card embossed "Loowur Elavaatur Akses Kard."
>turn on robot Nothing happens.
>wait Time passes...
Suddenly, the robot comes to life and its head starts swivelling about. It notices you and bounds over. "Hi! I'm B-19-7, but to everyperson I'm called Floyd. Are you a doctor-person or a planner-person? That's a nice lower elevator access card you are having there. Let's play Hider-and-Seeker you with me."
>show access card to floyd "I've got one just like that!" says Floyd. He looks through several of his compartments, then glances at you suspiciously.
- "Planetfall", 1983
I'd be very curious to know about any easter eggs this command might uncover. For example, in Planetfall there is a blacked-out room you can't see anything in. There's a lamp in the game, but it's located in a lab full of deadly radiation. You can enter the lab and take the lamp, but will die of radiation poisoning before you can make it back to the darkened room.
I always wondered, if you could get the lamp somehow, what was in the dark room? Now you can find out.
bamf: makes the object you specify disappear from the game. For example: "bamf troll". This works nicely for some objects but less so for others. For example, in Zork I the troll disappears obligingly, but the bamf'ing the cyclops doesn't help.
frotz, futz, lumen: attempts to emulate the "frotz" spell from Enchanter, which means "cause something to give off light." It can turn any item into a light source, thus obviating the need to worry about your lamp/torch running out while you wander around in the dark. I would have liked to just use the word "frotz"; unfortunately Zorks I-III define that word in their dictionaries (interesting, as these games predate Enchanter), and I am reluctant to interfere with its "original" use in those games (if any?).
While this is just a simple tweak, turning on a particular object property, exactly *which* property varies by game and I know of no easy way to determine this dynamically, so at present this only works in a few games: Zork I, Zork II, Zork III, Zork: The Undiscovered Underground, Infidel, and Planetfall (I'm taking requests).
tail: follow a character in the game -- as they move from room to room, so do you. Also allows you to follow characters where you ordinarily aren't allowed to, for example the unlucky Veronica from "Suspect".
travis: attempts to fool the game into thinking the object you specify is a weapon. Like "frotz" this is very game-specific; it only works in Zork I at present:
>i
You are carrying:
A brass lantern (providing light)
A leaflet
>north
The Troll Room
This is a small room with passages to the east and south
and a forbidding hole leading west. Bloodstains and deep
scratches (perhaps made by an axe) mar the walls.
A nasty-looking troll, brandishing a bloody axe, blocks all
passages out of the room.
>kill troll with leaflet
Trying to attack the troll with a leaflet is suicidal.
>travis leaflet
The leaflet glows wickedly.
>kill troll
(with the leaflet)
Your leaflet misses the troll by an inch.
The axe crashes against the rock, throwing sparks!
>g
You charge, but the troll jumps nimbly aside.
The troll's axe barely misses your ear.
>g
It's curtains for the troll as your leaflet removes his head.
Almost as soon as the troll breathes his last breath, a
cloud of sinister black fog envelops him, and when the fog
lifts, the carcass has disappeared.
>
lummox: Removes all practical limitations on the weight and total number of items you can carry. Very game-specific; only works in Zorks I-III and Planetfall for now.
voluminus: Increases the number of items which may be held in containers. Works in Zork I only for now.
systolic: Lowers your blood pressure in the game "Bureaucracy". In "Bureaucracy," using a word unknown to the game or entering an empty line bumps up your character's blood pressure. A few such missteps and you drop dead of a stroke. Bureaucracy is too effective by half; this "feature" alone irritated me so much I never got far in the game. This cheat should make the game a little more bearable to play. See also the superior "angiotensin" command, below.
angiotensin: A cheat that mimics taking medication for your chronic high blood pressure in the game "Bureaucracy". It works by resetting your BP to normal in-between turns. While it's still possible to stroke out by leaning on the enter key, in normal play this cheat should immunize you from Bureaucracy's blood pressure annoyances. Note that the cheat is part of the interpreter and not the game, and so will not stay in effect if you restore a game or restart. So in short, "Bureaucracy" is still annoying despite my best efforts. I wonder if Douglas Adams might have approved.
embezzle: sets your score in version 3 games to the value you specify. Useful for "finishing" games in a hurry. You could use this to quickly see the effects of the Tandy bit on the ending of Zork I, for example.
gmacho: intended for the Enchanter series, this cheat copies any spell in the game to your spellbook, even those which are too complex for "gnusto". Once in your spellbook, even these powerful spells may be memorized and cast repeatedly. Possession of the scroll the spell is written on is not necessary. Presumably this cheat won't let you do much new because of the sandboxing of powerful and uniquely-used spells, but who knows? Supported in Enchanter, Sorcerer, and Spellbreaker.
verdelivre: intended for the Enchanter series, attempts to copy every spell in the game to your spellbook. See "gmacho".
vilify: A silly cheat which tries to make the game think the object you specify is attackable. Like "frotz" this is very game-specific; it only works in Zork I at present. Show that mailbox what for:
West of House You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.
>kill mailbox (with the sword) I've known strange people, but fighting a small mailbox?
>vilify mailbox That small mailbox is really asking for trouble.
>kill mailbox (with the sword) Clang! Crash! The small mailbox parries. Your sword has begun to glow very brightly.
>g The quickness of your thrust knocks the small mailbox back, stunned.
baste, nosh: Another silly cheat which attempts to make the game think the specified object is edible. Only works in Zork I for now.
lingo: prints out all the words in the dictionary.
spiel: attempts to decode all the text in the game by brute force. This basically walks through every memory location in the game and tries to decode it as if it were encoded z-characters. There are a lot of hacks here to attempt to filter out junky text. I put this in to try and uncover easter eggs or funny things in games that I'd never run into while playing. For example, here's a little tidbit from Zork I that I'd never seen before, probably a message for an "impossible" case that you were never supposed to encounter:
It takes a talented person to be killed while already dead. YOU are such a talent. Unfortunately, it takes a talented person to deal with it. I am not such a talent. Sorry.
spiel takes up to 3 arguments, all optional. The first argument is the memory address to start decoding text. The default is the start of static memory, which is often a bit early. 20000 is usually a good starting point for version 3 games. The second argument is the level of detail to show. This is a number from 1 to 4:
1: Unconditionally show whatever's decoded from each possible address.
2: Like 1, but if a chunk of text is decoded that passes the various junk filters, continues decoding after it rather than at the next byte. Still shows "bad" text.
3: don't show text I suspect is junky. Subjective but pretty effective.
4: only show text we're highly confident of. This is the default setting.
The third argument is the minimum number of decoded words that must be present in a fragment to consider it good under most circumstances. Defaults to 3.
rooms: print a list of rooms/locations in the game. This is a rough guess based on descriptions taken from the game's object table, and so may contain a few mistakes.
items: print a list of items in the game. Like "rooms", this is a rough guess based on descriptions taken from the game's object table.
omap: prints a report of the objects in the game, indented by parent-child relationship.
#serials: displays the Z-machine version, release number, serial number, and checksum of the current game (a few more technical details that are shown by the traditional "version" command).
Speech synthesis and recognition capabilities are available under Windows via the Win32::SAPI4 Perl module, which must be installed separately, along with Microsoft's SAPI4 speech API distribution. As of this writing (March 2004), SAPI4 seems to be on the verge of being obsoleted by Microsoft, but it works fine on my Windows XP system. The API distribution is about a 40 MB download, search for "SAPI4SDKSUITE.EXE". Here's one link, though YMMV:
http://download.microsoft.com/download/speechsdk/Install/4.0a/win98/EN-US/SAPI4SDKSUITE.EXE
Command-line option to enable speech synthesis (you may also type "#speak" during the game at the command prompt to toggle it on or off). When speech synthesis is enabled, the game will speak the game text as well as print it to the screen. This will not work well with games using multiple windows.
Command-line option to enable speech recognition (you may also type "#listen" at the command prompt to enable it). When speech recognition is enabled, the game will listen for you to speak commands into your computer's microphone rather than type them at the keyboard. Once enabled, control will only be returned to the keyboard if dictation is disabled in the Microsoft Dictation control panel. In future releases of Rezrov, event-driven interfaces (such as Tk) may allow simultaneous voice and keyboard input.
The SAPI4 speech recognition API requires voice training to work well. Use the Microsoft Voice and Dictation tools to set up your microphone and train the system to recognize your voice. Be sure you are able to run the Microsoft Dictation pad and dictate with reasonable success before attempting to use voice recognition with Rezrov.
Dictation must be enabled within the Microsoft Dictation application for speech recognition to work.
Rezrov's speech recognition support should be considered highly experimental, and it can be a pain to get running. But it's fun when it works!
Command-line option to enter speech recognition debugging mode. This will display speech recognition events as they are processed by the system. More work needs to be done to explain incoming events.
Several command-line flags allow you to observe some of the internal machinations of your game as it is running. These options will probably be of limited interest to most people, but may be the foundation of future trickery.
Whenever an object in the game is moved, it tells you the name of the object and where it was moved to. Using this feature you can, among other things, see the name Infocom assigned to the "player" object in a number of their early games:
West of House There is a small mailbox here.
>north [Move "cretin" to "North of House"] North of House You are facing the north side of a white house. There is no door here, and all the windows are boarded up. To the north a narrow path winds through the trees.
Each object in the game has a list of properties associated with it. This flag lets you see when object properties are changed. As an example, in my version of Zork 1 the "blue glow" given off by the sword in the presence of enemies is property number 12 (1 for "a faint blue glow" and 2 for "glowing very brightly").
Likewise, each object has an associated list of single-bit attributes. This flag lets you observe when object attributes are set. As an example, in my version of Zork I the "providing light" attribute is number 20. Tweaking of this attribute is the foundation of "frotz" emulation (see "Cheating" below).
This option lets you see when object attributes are tested.
This option lets you see when object attributes are cleared.
Highlights object descriptions in the text printed out via the print_obj opcode (1OP, 0x0a).
If the interface you want to use supports colored text, this allows you to specify foreground (text) and background colors used in the game. If you specify one you must specify the other, i.e. you cannot specify just the foreground or background color. Example: "-fg white -bg blue".
When using the Curses interface, allowable colors are black, blue, cyan, green, magenta, red, white, and yellow.
When using the Win32::Console interface, allowable colors are black, blue, lightblue, red, lightred, green, lightgreen, magenta, lightmagenta, cyan, lightcyan, brown, yellow, gray, and white. Note that the program tries to shift to lighter colors to simulate "bold" text attributes: bold blue text uses lightblue, bold gray text uses white, etc. For this reason it looks best if you not use white or any of the "light" colors directly (for "white" text, specify "gray").
Specifies the foreground and background colors use for the status line in version 3 games; the same restrictions apply as to -fg and -bg. These must also be used as a pair, and -fg and -bg must be specified as well. Example: "-fg white -bg blue -sbg black -sfg white".
Specifies the color of the cursor. At present this only works for the Tk interface, and defaults to black. Note that if the game changes the screen's background color to the cursor color, the cursor color will be changed to the foreground color to prevent it from "disappearing". This happens in "photopia", for example.
Allows you to manually specify the number of columns and/or lines in your display.
Updates the screen with every line printed, so scrolling is always visible. As this disables any screen buffering provided by the I/O interface it will slow things down a bit, but some people might like the visual effect.
Specifies the font family to use for variable-width fonts. Under win32, this defaults to "Times New Roman". On other platforms defaults to "times".
Specifies the size of the font to use, as described in Tk::Font. Under win32 this defaults to 10, on other platforms it defaults to 18. If your fonts have a "jagged" appearance under X you should probably experiment with this value; for best results this should match a native font point size on your system. You might also try using the "xfstt" TrueType font server, which I've had very good results with under Linux.
Specifies the blink rate of the cursor, in milliseconds. The default is 1000 (one second). To disable blinking entirely, specify a value of 0 (zero).
Specifies the width of the text canvas, in pixels. The default is 70% of the screen's width.
Specifies the height of the text canvas, in pixels. The default is 60% of the screen's height.
If you have the Term::ReadLine module installed (and a backend such as
Term::Readline::Perl), support for it is available in the dumb,
termcap, and curses interfaces. By default support is enabled in the
"dumb" module and "termcap" interfaces, and disabled in the curses
interfaces (because it doesn't work right :P ). You can
enable/disable support for it with the "-readline" flag: "-readline 1"
enables support, and "-readline 0" disables it.
Displays the game time in "time" games (Deadline, Suspect, etc) in 24-hour format rather than 12-hour AM/PM format.
Disables usage of the "font 3" character graphics font. Generally only has meaning in Beyond Zork when using the Tk or Curses interfaces. Font 3 support is incomplete so you'll probably need this if you're playing Beyond Zork for any length of time.
Writes a log of the opcodes being executed and their arguments. If a filename is specified, the log is written to that file, otherwise it is sent to STDERR.
Prints a count and summary of the opcodes executed by the game between your commands.
Specifies the number of turns that can be undone when emulating the "undo" command; the default is 10 turns.
Undo emulation works by creating a temporary saved game in memory between every command you enter. To disable undo emulation entirely, specify a value of zero (0).
When the game starts, reads commands from the file specified instead of the keyboard. Control is returned to the keyboard when there are no more commands left in the file. Useful for testing, especially with the "-test" output interface.
Disables rezrov's attempts to guess the name of the game you're playing for use in the title bar. To guess the title, rezrov actually hijacks the interpreter before your first command, submitting a "version" command and parsing the game's output. This can slow the start of your game by a second or so, which is why you might want to turn it off. This also currently causes problems with the Infocom Sampler (sampler1_R55.z3) and Beyond Zork, for which title guessing is automatically disabled.
Specifies the ID number used by the interpreter to identify itself to the game. These are the machine ID numbers from section 11.1.3 of Graham Nelson's z-machine specification (see acknowledgments section):
1 DECSystem-20 5 Atari ST 9 Apple IIc 2 Apple IIe 6 IBM PC 10 Apple IIgs 3 Macintosh 7 Commodore 128 11 Tandy Color 4 Amiga 8 Commodore 64
The default is 6, IBM PC. This only seems to affect gameplay for a few games, notably "Beyond Zork".
My primary goal has been to write a z-code interpreter in Perl which is competent enough to play my favorite old Infocom games, which are mostly z-code version 3. Infocom's version 3 games are Ballyhoo, Cutthroats, Deadline, Enchanter, The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Hollywood Hijinx, Infidel, Leather Goddesses of Phobos, The Lurking Horror, Moonmist, Planetfall, Plundered Hearts, Seastalker, Sorcerer, Spellbreaker, Starcross, Stationfall, Suspect, Suspended, Wishbringer, The Witness, and Zork I, II, and III. These all seem to work pretty well under the current interpreter.
Version 4 and later games introduce more complex screen handling and difficult-to-keep-portable features such as timed input. Later games also introduce a dramatic increase in the number of opcodes executed between commands, making a practical implementation more problematic. For example, consider the number of opcodes executed by the interpreter to process a single "look" command:
Zork 1 (version 3): 387 opcodes
Trinity (version 4): 905 opcodes
Zork: The Undiscovered Underground (version 5): 2186 opcodes (!)
While rezrov can run most of these games, if you seriously want to *play* them I recommend you use an interpreter written in C, such as frotz or zip; these are much faster and more accurate than rezrov.
A secondary goal has been to produce a relatively clean, compartmentalized implementation of the z-machine that can be read along with the Specification (see acknowledgments section). Though the operations of the interpreter are broken into logical packages, performance considerations have kept me from strict OOP; more static data remains than is Pretty. The core StoryFile.pm package, formerly quasi-OO, has been flattened to plain functional style in a crass attempt to make the program run faster. The Perl version is actually based on my original version of rezrov, which was written in Java.
rezrov would not have been possible to write without the work of the following individuals:
Graham Nelson for his amazing z-machine specification:
http://www.gnelson.demon.co.uk/zspec/
The folks at the IF-archive for their repository:
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/README
Marnix Klooster for "The Z-Machine, and How to Emulate It", a critical second point of view on the spec:
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/zspec02/
Mark Howell for his "zip" interpreter, whose source code made debugging all my stupid mistakes possible:
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/zip/
Martin Frost for his Quetzal universal save-game file format, which is implemented by rezrov:
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/specification/savefile_14.txt
Evin Robertson, author of the Nitfol z-code interpreter, for the idea of automatic typo correction and the basic algorithm.
Andrew Plotkin for "TerpEtude" (etude.z5), his suite of z-machine torture tests.
Torbjorn Andersson for his "strictz.z5", a suite of torture tests for the (nonexistent) object 0.
Amir Karger for the mighty (and humbling) "Czech" suite of z-machine compliance tests, available from:
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/tools/
Neil Bowers for contributing ZIO_Test.pm.
Nick Ing-Simmons for Tk.pm, William Seltzer for Curses.pm, Tony Sanders for Term::Cap, Aldo Calpini for Win32::Console, and of course Larry Wall and the perl development team for Perl.
And lastly, the mighty Implementers:
>read dusty book The first page of the book was the table of contents. Only two chapter names can be read: The Legend of the Unseen Terror and The Legend of the Great Implementers.
>read legend of the implementers This legend, written in an ancient tongue, speaks of the creation of the world. A more absurd account can hardly be imagined. The universe, it seems, was created by "Implementers" who directed the running of great engines. These engines produced this world and others, strange and wondrous, as a test or puzzle for others of their kind. It goes on to state that these beings stand ready to aid those entrapped within their creation. The great magician-philosopher Helfax notes that a creation of this kind is morally and logically indefensible and discards the theory as "colossal claptrap and kludgery."
- "Enchanter", 1983
Bug? Not in a flawless program like this! (Cough, cough).
- Zork I (encoded at byte 29292 of revision 88)
While I've tried, the interpreter is not fully compliant with the
specification in some areas. With that said, I currently know of no
flaws that prevent version 3 games from being perfectly playable.
Version 4 games (A Mind Forever Voyaging, Bureaucracy, Nord and Bert
Couldn't Make Head or Tail of It, and Trinity) I'm less sure about,
this complicated by the fact that I haven't completed any of them :)
Version 5 games (Beyond Zork, Border Zone, Sherlock) seem to work to
the limited extent I've played them, but there are a few unimplemented
opcodes that I have yet to see used. The only version 8 game I've
tried has been "anchorhead", which runs, but is unbearably slow on my
P133. YMMV.
Things I need:
Any examples of bugs or crashes.
Any suggestions to improve execution speed.
An example of where typo correction doesn't work in Beyond Zork so I can document it.
A saved game from Seastalker, from just before the sonar scope is used. This is (I think) the only example of a version 3 game splitting the screen, and I'd like to test it. I know for sure it won't work correctly now.
Command transcripts/walkthroughs for version 4 games, for testing purposes. On second thought, I should really play Trinity first.
Feedback and suggestions for spiffy new features.
>up Jewel Room This fabulous room commands a magnificent view of the Lonely Mountain which lies to the north and west. The room itself is filled with beautiful chests and cabinets which once contained precious jewels and other objets d'art. These are empty. Winding stone stairs lead down to the base of the tower. There is an ornamented egg here, both beautiful and complex. It is carefully crafted and bears further examination.
>get egg then examine it Taken.
This ornamented egg is both beautiful and complex. The egg itself is mother-of-pearl, but decorated with delicate gold traceries inlaid with jewels and other precious metals. On the surface are a lapis handle, an emerald knob, a silver slide, a golden crank, and a diamond-studded button carefully and unobtrusively imbedded in the decorations. These various protuberances are likely to be connected with some machinery inside. The beautiful, ornamented egg is closed.
>read spell book
My Spell Book
The rezrov spell (open even locked or enchanted objects). The blorb spell (safely protect a small object as though in a strong box). The nitfol spell (converse with the beasts in their own tongue). The frotz spell (cause something to give off light). The gnusto spell (write a magic spell into a spell book).
>learn rezrov then rezrov egg Using your best study habits, you learn the rezrov spell.
The egg seems to come to life and each piece slides effortlessly in the correct pattern. The egg opens, revealing a shredded scroll inside, nestled among a profusion of shredders, knives, and other sharp instruments, cunningly connected to the knobs, buttons, etc. on the outside.
- "Enchanter", 1983
Michael Edmonson <mnedmonson@gmail.com>
Rezrov homepage: http://edmonson.paunix.org/rezrov/