Check config_file arguments for NULL

[neverball] / doc / MANUAL

                            * Neverball *


Tilt the  floor to roll a  ball through an obstacle  course within the
given  time.  If  the  ball falls  or time  expires, a ball is lost.

Collect coins to unlock the exit  and earn extra balls.  Red coins are
worth 5.  Blue coins are worth 10.  A ball is awarded for 100 coins.


* INSTRUCTIONS

Click Play  to begin.   Mouse motion tilts  the floor.   Mouse buttons
rotate the viewpoint.  The following  keyboard controls are defined by
default; most  of them can  be changed  in a configuration  file.  See
below for details.

    ESC    Pause and resume / Exit
    SHIFT  Fast camera rotation

    F1     Default Camera
    F2     Lazy Camera
    F3     Static Camera

    F6     Hide HUD
    F8     Toggle nice mode
    F9     Toggle frame counter
    F10    Snap a screenshot

    UP     Tilt the floor forward
    DOWN   Tilt the floor backward
    LEFT   Tilt the floor left
    RIGHT  Tilt the floor right

    D      Rotate the view right
    S      Rotate the view left

    R      Restart the current level

    TAB    Cycle through scores in high-score table


* LEVEL PROGRESSION

Neverball levels are grouped in  level sets.  All sets are immediately
accessible to the player, and track of progress is kept separately for
each set.  The player starts out  at the first level and must complete
each level in turn to unlock subsequent levels until all levels in the
set are completed.   A level is "unlocked" by  completing the previous
level in the  progression or if it  is the first level of  the set.  A
level  is "completed"  by collecing  the required  amount of  coins to
activate the goal in the level and reaching said goal.

There are  two game  modes or  ways of  progressing through  levels in
Neverball.  Each  mode is essentially  a subset  of the single  way of
playing present in Neverball 1.4.0.

In 1.4.0, the game keeps track of "lives" or balls, preventing a level
from being retried once the balls run out, however, unlocked/completed
levels remain accessible in the menu at all times.  As a special case,
1.4.0  also records  a set  high-score (see  below for  information on
high-scores)  when all  levels  of a  set are  played  through in  one
attempt, with  the condition  that no successfully-completed  level be
restarted during the run.

To  address  some of  the  problems  with  this  mode of  playing,  in
Neverball 1.5.0  it was  split into two  separate modes:  the "normal"
mode and the challenge mode.

In   the   normal  mode,   no   track   of   balls  is   kept.    Each
unlocked/completed level is immediately  accessible and can be retried
and restarted mid-game as often as desired.

In the challenge  mode, the player is given a  limited number of balls
and starts  out at the  first level of the  set with all  other levels
locked.  The game ends once the balls run out or all levels in the set
are completed.  A set score is  recorded for a successful run.  Levels
cannot be restarted, but can be retried.

In addition to regular  1.4.0-style levels, Neverball 1.5.0 introduces
bonus levels: extra levels awarded  for playing challenge mode.  Bonus
levels can only  be unlocked by completing all the  levels before them
in  challenge  mode,  however,  bonus levels  themselves  are  skipped
challenge mode; after  they have been unlocked, they can  be played in
the normal mode as any regular level.


* USER DATA FILES

Neverball  creates a  directory in  which it  stores user  data files.
These files include high scores, replays, and configurations.

Under Unix, Linux,  and OSX this directory is  called ".neverball" and
is created in  the user's home directory,  specifically, the directory
set in the HOME environment variable.

Under Windows  it is called "Neverball"  and is created in  the user's
application  data  directory the  location  of  which is  obtained  by
inspecting the  APPDATA environment variable.   An easy way  to access
this directory is by typing  %APPDATA% in the Windows Explorer address
bar.  If the location could not  be determined, it is assumed that the
user has permission to write to  the game data directory, and the user
data directory is created within.


* HIGH SCORES

The top  three fastest times  through each  level, the top  three coin
scores and the top three goal  unlock scores for each level are stored
in files named neverballhs-* in the user data directory.

The top  three fastest  times and  most coins scores  for each  set of
levels are also stored.  To achieve  a set score, the player must play
through all levels of a set in challenge mode.

The total set time will  include time spent during both successful and
unsuccesful level  plays, thus  time-outs and fall-outs  count against
the total time.

The  total  set  coin  count  will include  only  coins  collected  on
successful  level plays.   This  prevents unbounded  coin scores  from
being collected on levels with more than 100 coins.


* REPLAYS

Neverball  includes a  mechanism for  recording and  replaying levels.
The player may enter  a name for each replay at the  end of the level.
By default, the most recent unsaved  level will be saved to the replay
file named "Last.nbr".

Replay  files are  stored in  the user  data directory.   They  may be
copied freely.  To  view a replay you have  downloaded, simply move it
to  the user  data directory  and it  will appear  in the  Replay menu
in-game.


* CONFIGURATION

Game  settings are stored  in the  file neverballrc  in the  user data
directory.  This file is created  when the game exits.  It consists of
key /  value pairs.  Some of  these values are  configurable using the
in-game  options  screen.  Other  meaningful  keys  and their  default
values follow.

    width  800
    height 600

        These keys determine the effective display resolution.  If for
        any reason  the resolution you're looking  for isn't available
        in the in-game settings, you can modify these values instead.

    mouse_sense 300

        This  key controls  mouse  sensitivity.  The  value gives  the
        number of screen pixels the  mouse pointer must move to rotate
        the floor  through its entire  range.  A smaller  number means
        more sensitive.

    mouse_invert 0

        This key inverts the vertical mouse axis if set to 1.

    key_camera_1 f1
    key_camera_2 f2
    key_camera_3 f3
    key_camera_l d
    key_camera_r s

        These keys  define keyboard mappings for  camera selection and
        rotation.   Key  names  are specified  using  SDL's  canonical
        key  naming   convention  (for   a  mostly-complete   list  of
        non-single-letter  key  names,  see  share/keynames.c  in  the
        source archive).  The three camera behaviors are as follows:

        1 - Strict  camera stays behind the ball by  cueing off of the
        velocity of the  ball.  It is very  responsive,  but sometimes
        confusing.

        2 - Lazy  camera chases a point a set  distance from the ball.
        It is seldom  surprising, but at times it  is not sufficiently
        responsive.

        3 - Locked camera  does not rotate  except by  player command.

    key_forward  up
    key_backward down
    key_left     left
    key_right    right

        These keys define keyboard mappings for tilt control.

    key_pause escape

        This  key defines  a  keyboard mapping  for pause  activation.
        Before version 1.5.0, this mapping was hard-coded to the space
        bar and Escape key was used  to immediately exit the game.  To
        restore  this behaviour,  set  key_pause  to "space"  (without
        quotes).

    key_restart r

        This key defines a keyboard  mapping for a mid-game restart of
        the  current  level.   Handy  when  trying  to  record  a  new
        high-score, this function isn't available in challenge mode.

    key_score_next tab

        This key defines  a keyboard mapping for  cycling through Most
        Coins / Best Times / Unlock  Goal score tabs in the high-score
        board.

    view_fov 50
    view_dp  75
    view_dc  25
    view_dz  200

        These keys  define the view of the ball.  They give  the field
        of view in degrees,  the height of the view point,  the height
        of the view center,  and the horizontal distance from the ball
        in centimeters, respectively.  (The ball is  50 centimeters in
        diameter in most levels.)

        The default values  for these keys changed with version 1.2.6.
        Some players may be interested in using the  old values.  They
        were as follows:

            view_fov 40
            view_dp  400
            view_dc  0
            view_dz  600

    rotate_fast 200
    rotate_slow 100

        These keys control the rate of camera rotation.  Roughly, they
        give  the rate  of lateral  camera motion  in  centimeters per
        seconds,  so the  actual rotation  rate depends  upon view_dz,
        above.  The fast rate is used when the Shift key is held down.

    fps 0

        This key enables an on-screen frames-per-second counter. Press
        F9 to toggle this flag in-game.

    nice 0

        This  key  enables  a  delay  function  after  each  frame  is
        rendered, forcing a context  switch and ensuring that the game
        does not utilize 100% of the CPU.  0 is off, 1 is on.

        If the  frame rate is not  fast enough for you,  or you simply
        want to  test the  performance of the  game on  your hardware,
        disable it.

        Press F8 to toggle this flag in-game.

    ball_file ball/basic-ball/basic-ball

        This key determines the model used for the ball.

    replay_name %s-%l

        This  key specifies  the  format of  the  default replay  name
        generated when saving replays.

        The value  of replay_name  can include regular  characters and
        special  character sequences  which act  as place-holders  for
        certain "dynamic" text.  These sequences are recognised:

            %s  current set identifier (such as "easy" or "mym")
            %l  current level identifier (such as "03" or "IV")
            %%  single percentage sign

        Any  other sequence  starting with  % will  be reported  as an
        error and skipped.

        The resulting  replay name is  also suffixed by  an underscore
        and  a unique  2-digit number  to avoid  name collisions  with
        existing replays.

    stats 0

        This  key enables  print-out (to  standard output)  of running
        statistics of  the current  frame time  and frames-per-second,
        averaged over 250 milliseconds.  Most people won't need this.

    uniform 0

        This  key controls  the  frequency of  graphical updates  with
        respect to physics updates.

        When  uniform is  N, then  there  will be  exactly N  physical
        updates per graphics update, regardless of the passage of real
        time.  So for example, if uniform is 1 then you will see every
        physics update  rendered exactly once.   The default is  0 and
        the option is disabled.

        A further functionality  is built atop the  uniform option: if
        the  uniform value  is  negative  then the  game  will take  a
        screenshot  at  each  frame.   This  may  be  used  to  record
        high-quality movies of replays.  Set uniform to -3 and start a
        replay using  the --replay command  line option, and  you will
        find a 30FPS movie written as a series of PNGs.

        On an unfortunate note: audio is handled in a separate thread,
        and there is no support for outputting audio synchronized with
        a movie created in this fashion.

    screenshot 0

        This key holds  the current screen-shot index.   The number is
        incremented every time a new screen-shot is taken (by pressing
        F10 or in  uniform mode) and it is appended  to the image file
        name.

    stereo 0

        This key  enables quad-buffered stereo viewing  for those with
        the hardware to support it.  It gives an angle in degrees that
        determines the  interocular distance.  0  is normal non-stereo
        viewing.  2 gives  a  good  stereo effect.   If  the eyes  are
        swapped, give a negative value, like -2.

    vsync 1

        This key controls vertical  blanking synchronization.  1 is on
        (and is the default), 0 is off.

    multisample 0

        This key enables multisample full-screen antialiasing.  Values
        can be 2,  4, 8, etc., and can be  overspecified; in such case
        the game  will search for  the highest level  of multisampling
        supported by  your hardware.  (The best  value eventually gets
        written to the config file.)

    mipmap 0
    aniso  0

        These  keys  control  mipmapping  and  anisotropic  filtering,
        respectively.

        With mipmapping, smaller versions of  each texture are kept in
        video  memory, and  are referenced  when a  texture is  viewed
        from  a distance.   This  improves video  cache coherence  and
        eliminates texture  "swimming" on detailed textures  when seen
        from afar.  To enable mipmapping, set mipmap to 1.

        Related to mipmapping is anisotropic filtering.  "Anisotropic"
        basically means "not the same from all directions".  It refers
        to  cases where  a texture  might need  to be  compressed more
        vertically than  horizontally.  For  example, if a  texture is
        applied  to a  flat surface  and seen  from far  away then  it
        appears  much wider  than high.   Anisotropic filtering  takes
        care of  this.  To enable  it, set aniso  to a small  power of
        two.   If  you  have  weak hardware,  this  feature  won't  do
        anything.

    joystick 0

        This key  enables joystick control.  0  is off, 1  is on.  The
        game may still be controlled with the mouse even while gamepad
        control  is enabled.   However,  random noise  from an  analog
        controller at rest can disrupt normal mouse input.

    joystick_device 0

        This  number selects  which joystick  to use if  more than one
        joystick is  found. 0 is the first  joystick, 1 is the  second
        and so on.

    joystick_axis_x 0

        Joystick horizontal axis number

    joystick_axis_y 1

        Joystick vertical axis number

    joystick_button_a 0

        Joystick menu select button

    joystick_button_b 1

        Joystick menu cancel button

    joystick_button_r 2

        Joystick counter-clockwise camera rotation button

    joystick_button_l 3

        Joystick clockwise camera rotation button

    joystick_button_exit 4

        Joystick exit button

    wiimote_addr

        This key  specifies the address  of your Nintendo  Wii Remote.
        For more  information, see the  section on using  Wiimote with
        Neverball.


* WIIMOTE SUPPORT

For information  on how to build  the game with Wiimote  support under
Linux, see instructions in the file INSTALL in the source archive.

To use it, first make sure you've set up all the Bluetooth mumbo-jumbo
in your kernel  and what-not.  Once this is done,  you'll need to find
out your Wiimote's address like this:

    $ hcitool scan
    Scanning ...
            00:1B:7A:3E:45:7F       Nintendo RVL-CNT-01

This  hexadecimal   string  must  go   in  the  neverballrc   file  as
"wiimote_addr 00:1B:7A:3E:45:7F" so that the game knows that there's a
Wiimote to be used.

Now, when  you start the game  everything will proceed normally  but a
background thread  will place your Bluetooth  device into discoverable
mode.  You've got about  15 seconds to press 1 and  2 on your wiimote.
The Wiimote's LEDs will flash, and once the game makes friends with it
the Player 1 LED will be lit.  If you don't activate your Wiimote then
the  game  will  behave  normally and  the  Bluetooth  discovery  will
eventually time out.

From  there,  the  Wiimote  digital  pad works  like  a  joystick  for
navigating menus.  A and  B buttons are the A and  B buttons.  Home is
Pause.  Plus and  Minus are camera rotation controls.   Also, the tilt
sensor controls the floor.

The  Wiimote tilt  sensor is  a  surprisingly noisy  device, so  heavy
filtering is applied to the input.   For this reason, the controls may
feel sluggish.  This might improve with  an IR sensor bar, but has not
been tested.


Web: <http://neverball.org/>