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Name

       xzip - X Interface to the Z-code Interpreter

Syntax

       xzip [ options ...  ] gamefile

       The  list  of  options  is  described below. The gamefile should be the
       filename of a Z-code file or a PICKLE archive containing a Z-code file.

Description

       xzip  is  a  clean X Windows interface to games written in Infocom’s Z-
       code game format. It handles Z-code versions  1  through  5,  plus  the
       newer version 8.

       The  interface is heavily (well, completely) based on ATK, an X toolkit
       developed at CMU. Really, I would have preferred to actually do this in
       ATK...  except  that  then  you’d  need  ATK  to  run it, and that’s 50
       megabytes of source code. (Honest.) So I just did an imitation.

Mouse Commands

       In the text window:

       Left-click to move the dot to the mouse location.
       Click-and-drag to select a large region.
       Right-click to extend the selection to the mouse location.
       Double-clicking selects a word (or extends the selection one word at  a
       time).

       In the scroll bar:

       Left-click on the arrows to scroll to the top or bottom.
       Right-click on the arrows to scroll up or down one line.
       Click-and-drag on the elevator will scroll up and down smoothly.
       Left-click  in the bar (without dragging) will scroll down by an amount
       controlled by where in the bar you click. The farther down the bar, the
       more  it  scrolls. This is computed so that if you left-click next to a
       line, that line scrolls to the top of the screen.
       Right-click in the bar (without dragging) will scroll up in  a  similar
       manner. The top line will scroll down to where you clicked.

Key Commands

       The  key  commands will be familiar to Emacs users.  meta- combinations
       can be used either by holding down the meta key (possibly labelled  alt
       or something else) or by pressing escape before the desired key.

       The commands listed below are the defaults. They can be customized with
       the bindings X resource (see below.) <none> indicates a function  which
       by default is not bound to any key.

       ctrl-f (forward-char) Move dot forward one character.
       ctrl-b (backward-char) Move dot backward one character.
       meta-f (forward-word) Move dot forward one word.
       meta-b (backward-word) Move dot backward one word.
       ctrl-a (beginning-of-line) Move dot to beginning of line.
       ctrl-e (end-of-line) Move dot to end of line.

       PageDown, ctrl-v (scroll-down) Scroll down one page.
       PageUp, meta-v (scroll-up) Scroll up one page.

       delete (delete-char) Delete character before the dot.
       ctrl-d (delete-next-char) Delete character after the dot.
       meta-delete (delete-word) Delete word before the dot.
       meta-d (delete-next-word) Delete word after the dot.

       ctrl-w (kill-region) Cut selection to cut buffer.
       meta-w (copy-region) Copy selection to cut buffer.
       ctrl-y (yank) Copy the cut buffer in at the dot.
       ctrl-k (kill-line) Cut from dot to end of line into the cut buffer.
       ctrl-u (kill-input) Cut all text typed so far into the cut buffer.

       UpArrow,  meta-=  (backward-history)  Move  back  one  line  in command
       history buffer.
       DownArrow, meta-(forward-history)  Move  back  one  line  in  command
       history buffer.

       meta-0...meta-9  (macro)  Insert a macro string at the dot. By default,
       all macros are undefined at startup, but you can change this  with  the
       bindings option.
       meta-r  (define-macro)  The  next macro key hit will be redefined to be
       the selection. If there is no selection, or if the next key hit is  not
       a macro key, an error is displayed.

       ctrl-l (redraw-all-windows) Redraw text and status windows.
       <none> (redraw-status) Redraw status window.
       <none> (redraw-screen) Redraw text window.
       meta-z  (zoom-status)  Expand  status window to maximum size (only when
       the autoresize option is on.)
       meta-s (shrink-status) Shrink status window to minimum size (only  when
       the autoresize option is on.)
       meta-c (clear-status) Clear any extra text below the status line in the
       status window.

       Enter, Return (enter) Accept the text that has been typed.
       Escape (escape) Set escape mode; next key hit will be taken as  a  meta
       key.
       ctrl-g  (cancel) Cancel escape mode, and anything else that’s going on.
       Help, ctrl-_ (explain-key) Explain the next key hit; this displays  the
       function that the key is bound to, and its argument, if any.
       All  normal  keys (insert-self) Insert whatever key is bound to this at
       the dot.
       <none> (no-op) Do nothing. Bind a key to this to disable it.

Resources and Options

       All the behavior of xzip is controlled by X resources and  command-line
       options.  Any  particular behavior can be set with either a resource or
       an option; options override resources.

       Command-line options go on the command line, looking like,
       xzip -option value gamefile
       Note that even binary options like "justify" must  be  given  a  value,
       "yes" or "no".

       Resources  are  usually  placed  in your .Xdefaults or Xresources file,
       depending on your system setup. They have the format
       xzip.resourcename: value

       These are the resources and options that you  can  currently  set.  The
       default values are in italics.

       geometry: 500x600+100+100
              The geometry of the text window, in the usual X geometry format.

       statgeometry: 80x24+100+50
              The geometry of the status window. Note that the size  is  given
              in  characters, not in pixels, although the position is still in
              pixels. This makes it something of a pain to position it in  the
              right or bottom sides of the screen.

       foreground: black
              The color of the text and other window decorations.

       background: white
              The color of the window background.

       greycolor: grey60
              An  intermediate  color,  used  for  the  scroll  bar  on  color
              displays.

       justify: yes
              If "yes", full-justify the text in the text window.

       marginx: 4
              Width (in pixels) of the margin between the  left  edge  of  the
              text and the scroll bar.

       leading: 3
              Width (in pixels) of extra space to put between lines of text.

       autoresize: yes
              If "yes", the status window will automatically resize to be just
              big enough for  the  game’s  status  line.  (But  see  "Quirks",
              below.)

       resizeupward: no
              If  "no",  the  status window will resize downward; the top edge
              will stay in place, and the bottom edge will move. If "yes",  it
              will  resize  upward. At the moment, this doesn’t work very well
              at all. (See "Known Bugs", below.)

       autoclear: yes
              If "yes", extraneous text in the status window will  be  cleared
              after one turn. (See "Quirks", below.)

       history: 20
              The number of commands to store in the command history.

       buffer: 4000
              The  amount  of  text  (in characters) to keep in the scrollback
              buffer. If this is made too large, the program can  become  very
              slow.

       strictz: 1
              The  level  of  reporting  of  various subtle errors in the game
              file. 0 means that all  errors  are  silently  ignored;  1  (the
              default)  means  that each error is reported, but only the first
              time it occurs; 2 means that each error is reported  every  time
              it   occurs;  3  means  that  the  interpreter  will  shut  down
              immediately when an error occurs.

       spec: no
              If "yes", the interpreter will declare itself  to  be  compliant
              with   the   Z-machine   Specification  version  1.0.  This  is,
              basically, a lie, since I have not formally reviewed the  source
              for  Spec-1.0  compliance.  However,  xzip  does  support  every
              Spec-1.0 feature that I  know  of,  except  for  the  color  and
              Unicode options.

       inputstyle: b
              The  style  to  display  your  typed input in. This can be n for
              normal text, or r, b, rb, i, ri, bi, rbi, f, rf,  bf,  rbf,  if,
              rif,  bif,  rbif  to  specify  any combination of Reverse, Bold,
              Italic, and Fixed. Note that the letters must be  in  the  order
              shown; you cannot use ib to specify italic and bold.

       X-color:  (same as foreground)
              X may be any of n, r, b, rb, i, ri, bi, rbi, f, rf, bf, rbf, if,
              rif, bif, rbif.  This allows you to specify the color of any  of
              the sixteen fonts used by xzip.  For non-reversed fonts, this is
              the color of the text; for reversed fonts, it is  the  color  of
              the  field on which the text is displayed. (The text of reversed
              fonts is always in the background color.)

       X-font:
              X may be any of n, b, i, bi, f, bf, if, bif.  This allows you to
              specify  the  sixteen fonts used by xzip.  (Note that you cannot
              set the reversed fonts; they always use the same font  as  their
              non-reversed counterparts.)
              The  status  window  always uses the fixed-width fonts; the text
              window usually (but not always) uses proportional fonts.

       bindings: (see above)
              Key bindings to supplement or override the default bindings. The
              resource should look like
              key=function [, argument ]; key=function [, argument ] ...
              where  key  is  the  name of a key, preceded by c- to indicate a
              control key and m- to indicate a meta key.  function  should  be
              one  of  the  function  names  listed in parentheses in the "Key
              Bindings" section.  argument (which is  optional)  should  be  a
              quoted  string  which will be passed to the function. Currently,
              only the macro function takes an argument.
              So, for example,
              xzip.bindings: c-x=kill-input; m-i=macro,"inventory"; m-d=no-op
              would mean that ctrl-x will delete all input,  and  meta-i  will
              enter  the  string  "inventory", and meta-d will do nothing. You
              can have more than one key bound to a function, but you can only
              have  one  function bound to a key; later bindings will override
              earlier ones.

       Ok, I lied; there’s  one  behavior  which  is  set  by  an  environment
       variable.  If  you  set  INFOCOM_PATH to a directory or colon-separated
       list of directories, xzip will look  there  for  a  story  file  if  it
       doesn’t find it in the current directory.

Quirks

       As always, if you highlight colored text, the result may be surprising.
       Highlighting "normal" text will be fine, and any other fonts which  are
       the  same  color,  but  other colors may highlight in strange ways, and
       could be hard to read. (This is  only  a  problem  for  text  which  is
       highlighted  because  it’s  selected.  Text  in  a  reverse  font looks
       correct.)

       Certain games (notably Trinity and Curses!  ) display  pop-up  windows,
       by  using  the  status  line  in  a slightly funky way. They expand the
       status line, display some text, and then immediately shrink the  status
       line again.
       I  have  done my best to support this in xzip ´s two-window system. The
       pop-up window will be visible from when it is created until  the  first
       time  you  hit  Return.  Then the status window will shrink again. This
       gives you one "turn" to read the pop-up, which  should  be  sufficient.
       (In  one-window,  non-scrolling  interpreters,  the pop-up appears over
       your old text, and scrolls away as you continue play.)
       If you turn off the autoclear option, pop-ups will not be  erased;  use
       meta-z  to  expand  the  status  window  and read them after the window
       shrinks, and meta-c to erase them manually. If you  do  not  erase  the
       pop-up, a later pop-up may partially overwrite it, which looks ugly.
       If  you  turn  off  the  autoshrink  option, the status window will not
       shrink, but the pop-up will still be erased (unless you have turned off
       autoclear as well.)

Known Bugs

       The  "resizeupward"  preference just plain doesn’t work. If you use it,
       the status window will slowly drift downwards as it resizes.
       If a timed input (such as Border  Zone  uses)  expires  while  you  are
       editing a line, the dot jumps to the end of the line.
       If a style change occurs in the middle of a word, xzip thinks it’s okay
       to break the word there (when wrapping lines.)
       Reverse text has gaps in it in full-justified lines. It also  has  gaps
       between lines, in the text window.
       The  keybindings  are  ignored  while  xzip  is  waiting  for  a single
       keystroke (as opposed to a line of  input.)   ctrl-l  is  hardwired  to
       work, but any other key will just be taken literally.
       Scrolling is slow and awful on X servers without backing store.
       Ignores meta modifier on special keyboard keys (Home, PageUp, etc)
       Parsing  of  keys in bindings could be cleverer. It ought to understand
       /123 octal notation at least.
       Ought to have separate font and color prefs for the status window.
       Sometimes makes you place a window by hand, even though the geometry is
       specified.

Author

       X interface by Andrew Plotkin (erkyrath@eblong.com)
       The   Z-code   engine   is   taken  from  ZIP  V2.0.7  by  Mark  Howell
       (howell_ma@movies.enet.dec.com)
       For      more      information,      see      the       web       page:
       http://www.eblong.com/zarf/xzip.html

       You are expressly forbidden to use this program on an Infocom game data
       file if, in so doing, you violate the copyright  notice  supplied  with
       the original Infocom game.
       Parts  of  this  program  (the  files  xinit.c, xio.c, xkey.c, xmess.c,
       xstat.c, xtext.c) are copyrighted by Andrew Plotkin. These files may be
       distributed, modified, and used freely, with the exception noted above.
       I do not know the exact copyright status of the rest,  except  that  it
       was  written by Mark Howell and thus is probably copyrighted by him. He
       released it for free, so to the best of my knowledge, it  can  also  be
       distributed, modified, and used freely, with the exception noted above.

                                                                       xzip(1)