.xtrekrc / .paradiserc Options

by Bill Dyess (Thought)
and Robert Forsman (Hammor)

(Editor: I need more input on the new options coming from the TT-line, urgently !)

This document almost certainly has errors. If you find any, please send email and we'll fix it for future readers.

The options in this document are read from a .xtrekrc or .paradiserc in the user's home directory, or the current directory. Using the -r switch, any file can be used.

The client doesn't actually parse the options when they are read in: it just stores the values for later use. Because of this, no error messages will be given if a bad setting is in your .paradiserc. The client will just ignore it.

The options are case insensitive. sHoWSHielDS is equivalent to showShields, as far as the client is concerned. The latter is obviously easier to read :).

Server aliases: any non-switch given on the client command line is taken as a server alias. The client will then, when searching for a default, look for 'default.alias' first and only check for 'default' if it can't find the alias. This allows server-specific settings.

There are three kinds of .paradiserc options:

int: integer values: 0, 1, 5, etc.
bool: boolean values: 0, 1, on, off, yes, no
string: string values: twink, scum, WHATever

The options are listed in this format:

<name> <type> <default>

<description....>

galacticFrequent bool on

Specify whether to use frequent galactic map updating or not. Turn this off if you have a slow machine.

defaultShip string CA

This is the ship that will be used by default when you click on a team square.

useRSA bool on

Turn on RSA for use with servers that require it. This can also be specified with a command line flag.

showShields bool on

Show shields around ships.

keepPeace bool on

Keeps your war settings when you die.

reportKills bool on

Turns on kill messages. This command is obsolete - see the .allow window resource.

showStars bool on

Show background stars. Always off when connected to a Bronco server.

showMySpeed bool on

Places a small number up and to the right of your ship telling your current speed.

showTractorPressor bool on

Makes your tractor/pressor beams visible.

showAllTractorPressor bool off

Makes everybody's tractor/pressor beams visible. Doesn't work on Bronco servers (the information is not sent).

showLock int 3

Shows lock symbol when locked on to a player based on the following table:

0: don't show lock icon
1: show icon on galactic map only
2: show icon on tactical map only
3: show icon on both map windows

drawGrid bool on

Specifies whether or not the galactic grid lines are to be drawn.

sortPlayers bool on

Sorts the players in the playerlist by teams.

newDashBoard bool on

Obsolete value. Turns on the new dashboard.

newDashBoard2 bool on

Obsolete value. Turns on the color dashboard.

Dashboard Int 0

Selects the dashboard to use from the following table:

0: old (text) dashboard
1: new dashboard
2: color dashboard
3: rainbow dashboard

cloakChars string ??

Replaces the '??' used to denote a cloaked player with the given string.

showPhaser int 0

This option is obsolete, see the .allow window resource. For the curious, the value comes from the following table:

0: don't show phaser messages
1: phaser messages in kill window
2: phaser messages in phaser window
3: phaser messages in phaser window only
4: phaser messages in total review only

logging bool on

Turns on message logging. By default, all messages will go to stdout (the terminal you ran the client from). If logfile is specified, then that file will be used.

logFile string (stdout)

Specifies a file to be used for logging purposes. ~ expansion is done, so ~/logfile is a valid filename, as is ~user/logfile. If the file exists, the text is appended. A nice header is printed, so the same logfile can be easily used to keep an ongoing record of all messages. It can get quite large though.

warnHull bool on

Turns on the hull warning pixels. The pixels form a circle of points around your ship. For each 12% of hull you lose, one pixel goes away. Additionally, as your hull damage increases, the color changes from green->yellow->red.

warpStreaks bool on

Turns on warp streaks. When on, when a ship goes into warp the background stars will streak into lines. The effect only lasts a second or two.

usemsgw bool on

Sends messages to the warning window. Doesn't effect the normal message system.

showShieldDam bool on

Makes your shields vary in color as shield damage varies.

udpUpdates int 5

The number of updates/second the client will (attempt) to display.

extraAlertBorder bool on

Turns on the tactical warning border. It changes color based on enemy proximity, green->yellow->red as the enemy gets closer.

udpDebug bool off

Turns on UDP debugging output.

udpClientSend int 1

Sets the method used for sending UDP packets. The number is taken from the following table:

0: TCP only
1: simple UDP
2: enforced UDP (state only)
3: enforced UDP (state & weapon)

enforced UDP keeps sending a packet until it is accepted. The drawback to using this is that a packet can be sent and received by the server several times. This means that instead of firing one torp you could fire three.

udpClientReceive int 1

Specifies the way that UDP is received. From the following table:

0: TCP only
1: simple UDP
2: fat UDP (lots of extra info sent)
3: double UDP (obsolete)

tryUDP bool on

If on, the client will attempt to start UDP automatically.

udpSequenceCheck bool on

Turns UDP sequence checking on and off. When off, your ship might jump *backwards*.

clearmap bool on

Tells the client to ignore the server-stored copy of the keymap.

font string 6x10

boldfont string -*-clean-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-c-60-*

italicfont string -*-clean-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-c-60-*

bigfont string -adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal--34-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Sets the normal, bold, italic, and big fonts respectively. Type 'xlsfonts' to get a listing of fonts on your system, or use 'xfontsel' to choose a font interactively.

name string guest

The default name to use when logging into a server.

password string

The password to use when logging into a server. If both name and password are defined, the login process is automatic. Both can also be specified on the command line.

keymap string aabbccddee...

Remaps the keyboard keys. The format is <key><function><key>... For example, to remap 't' to tractor ('T'), you would use:

		keymap:	tT

Multiple keymaps are accepted. The final keymap is the sum of all the individual keymaps.

ckeymap string

Basically the same as keymap except it adds the ability to remap control keys. A control key is represented by ^<key>, eg control k would be written as '^k'. Since '^' is a valid key, to use it in your keymap it needs to be written as '^^'. For example, if you wanted to remap 'q' to control-5 you would use:

		ckeymap: q^5

keymap.<ship> string

This keymap is added to any other keymap when you are flying in <ship>. <ship> should be written in two letter format (CA, FR, SC, etc).

ckeymap.<ship> string

Same as keymap.<ship> except it allows control characters.

buttonmap string 1t2p3k4t5p6k7t8p9katbpck

Remaps the mouse buttons to other functions. The numbers/letters correspond to the keys as follows:

1: left mouse button
2: middle
3: right
4: shift-left
5: shift-middle
6: shift-right
7: ctrl-left
8: ctrl-middle
9: ctrl-right
a: shift-ctrl-left
b: shift-ctrl-middle
c: shift-ctrl-right

To remap the shift-left mouse button to the macro key ('X'), you would use:

		buttonmap:	4X

cbuttonmap string

Same thing as buttonmap but you can map control characters.

buttonmap.<ship> string

This is to buttonmap as keymap.<ship> is to keymap.

cbuttonmap.<ship> string

Same as buttonmap.<ship> except control characters are allowed.

server string

Sets the default server to string. Eg, to change the default server to pippin.ee.usu.edu (silly, because it already is) use:

		server:	pippin.ee.usu.edu

flavor string

Sets the flavor. This setting is checked for very early on. When checking for any default, that default.flavor is checked for first. For example, if you have:

		useRSA.paradise:	on
		useRSA:			off
		flavor:			paradise

in your paradiserc, then useRSA would be enabled because it would be checked for first. This is really only useful with the server alias feature. All the paradise servers would have a:

		flavor.server:	paradise

line, and all the bronco servers would have a:

		flavor.server:	bronco

line, and the settings would be qualified .paradise or .bronco accordingly.

port int 2592

Sets the default port. Especially useful with the server alias feature.

shipBitmapPath string

shipBitmapPath.1 string

shipBitmapPath.2 string

shipBitmapPath.3 string

shipBitmapPath.4 string

Sets the path to search for bitmap albums in. The numbers correspond to the teams. If just 'shipBitmapPath' exists, then the client will use all the albums it can find in that directory. If a shipBitmapPath.1 exists, then that teams bitmaps will come from the given directory. I use this so I can have one set of bitmaps in each directory.

color.white string white

color.black string black

color.red string red

color.green string green

color.yellow string yellow

color.cyan string cyan

color.light grey string light grey

Sets the specified color to the color given. Look around on your system for a rgb.txt file. It should contain a list of colors for your particular system.

infoIcon bool off

Turns on the info icon feature. This changes the enterprise picture icon into an information display.

pigSelf bool off

metaserver string metaserver.ecst.csuchico.edu

Sets the metaserver to string.

continuousMouse bool off

Turns on the continuousMouse feature. When enabled, the mouse buttons will autorepeat.

clickDelay int 5

Sets the number of updates to wait before auto-repeating. Only works when using continuousMouse. The delay is not checked when holding the button down and moving the mouse - the effect is instantaneous.

timerType int 3

Changes the way the timer works. The timer is a hours:minutes:seconds clock located in the bottom-left corner of the dashboard. The number comes from the following table:

0: none
1: time of day
2: time on server
3: time in ship (default)
4: user set time (press '@' to reset to 00:00:00)

robsort bool off

Sorts the enemy team to the left in the sorted playerlist, vice placing them on the right. Rob prefers it this way. He's weird.

showDead bool on

Shows dead players on the playerlist.

sortOutfitting bool off

Sorts outfitting players to the bottom of the playerlist (when sorted).

showPreLogins bool off

Shows players on the player list as they are logging in.

hideNoKills bool off

Replaces 0.00 kills with empty space. Only works on Paradise and non-RSA bronco servers.

controlChars bool off

Obsolete. Used to change keymap: into ckeymap: as far as parsing was concerned. It doesn't do anything now.

warpStreaks bool off

Turns on warp streaks. Warp streaks is a visual effect when going into warp: the background stars streak into lines.

cloakChars string ??

Changes the string used to identify cloakers on the galactic. The length of the string can be anything you like.

showStats bool off

Turns on the stats window.

reportKills bool off

Makes kill messages show up in the total review window. Obsolete, see the allow window resource.

keepPeace bool off

Stay peaceful when reborn. Otherwise, your war settings keep resetting.

showGalactic int 4

Sets the planet bitmaps used for the galactic map. The numbers come from:

0: ownership
1: facilities
2: nothing
3: surface properties
4: scout info age (default)
5: MOO-style facilities

showGalacticSequence string 012345

Sets the sequence the 'B' key rotates through the galactic planet bitmaps. By default, it starts at 4 and then goes 5->0->1->2->3->back to 4. If instead you used 01, it would go from 4 (the default) to 0->1->0...

showLocal int 1

Sets the planet bitmaps used for the local (tactical) window. From the following list:

0: show ownership
1: show facilities
2: show nothing
3: show surface properties
4: MOO-style facilities

showLocalSequence string 01234

Works like showGalacticSequence.

autoQuit int 199

Sets the time (in seconds) until auto-quit when waiting at the outfit screen.

showLock int 3

Sets how the lock arrow is displayed:

0: don't show
1: galactic only
2: tactical only
3: both

packetLights bool off

Turns on packet lights in the dashboard. Yellow is recieve, green is send.

metaFork bool off

Enables forking for the metaserver window. If on, the metaserver window will not pop down when you click to choose. A client will be forked instead and the metaserver window will stay up. (experimental)

viewBox bool off

Enable the view box. When on, four dots appear on the galactic indicating the corners of your tactical screen.

playerList string ,nTRNKWLr O D d,nTR N K lrSd

Specifies a comma-separated list of player list window configurations. An empty string between commas (or at the end/beginning) uses the old paradise playerlist. It is completely configurable, with each column changeable. Here's 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"
    6  'G'   Doosh Rating (oGGing)" Dshng"
    6  'g'   Dooshes              " Dshed"
    6  'F'   Resource Rating      " Resrc"
    6  'f'   Resources bombed     " Rsrcs"
    6  'Z'   SB Rating            " SBrat"
    6  'z'   WB Rating            " WBrat"
    6  'J'   JS Rating            " JSrat"
    6  'j'   JS Planets           " JSpls"
    6  'C'   SpeCial ships rating " Specl"
    6  'E'   Genocides (Endings)  " Genos"
    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"
    9  'w'   War status           " War Stat"
  PLIST2  (not enabled)
    3  's'   Speed                " Sp"

The columns are defined with the 'playerlist' resource. (experimental)

keepInfo int 0

How many updates should the short information windows be kept up? 0 means forever.

mac.*.*

Macros are defined in the macros.doc file. Hopefully you can get it where you got this file.

Window Resources

The client will look for resources associated with the name of each window it tries to open. All the resources are of the format:

windowname.resourcename:	value

The possible windowname's are:

netrek: main window
local: tactical window
map: galactic window
xtrekrc_help: .xtrekrc help window
review_all: ALL message window
review_team: TEAM message window
review_kill: KILL message window
review_your: personal message window
review_phaser: phaser message window
review: joined review window

other windows you can change, but why?:

count
waitquit
wait_icon
info
stats
Network Statistics
rank
planet2
planet
tstat
warn
Motd
help

Possible resourcename's are:

geometry string varies

Sets the position and size of the window. Use the following format: <columns>x<rows>+<xoffset>+<yoffset> for example:

		netrek.geometry:	1000x830+0+1

mapped bool varies

Tells the client to map (or not to map) a particular window.

parent string varies, usually root

Specify which window it should be mapped inside of. This is usually 'root' or 'netrek'. 'root' gives the window a window-manager supplied border, while 'netrek' puts it inside the main window. For example:

		windowname.parent:	netrek
		windowname.parent:	root

allow string varies

allow only works for message windows. This resource allows you to set which windows a message is allowed to go to. The string is a list of one-letter abbreviations for each type of message allowed. These are the possible abbrevitations:

A: All
T: Team
I: Individual (to you)
K: Kills
P: Phaser

Here are the defaults:

		review.allow:              ATIKP            
		review_all.allow:          A
		review_team.allow:         T 
		review_your.allow:         I 
		review_kill.allow:         K
		review_phaser.allow:       P