notnotdnethack/doc/dgn_comp.6

.TH DGN_COMP 6 "12 Dec 1995"
.UC 4
.SH NAME
dgn_comp \- NetHack dungeon compiler
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B dgn_comp
[
.I file
]
.PP
If no arguments are given, it reads standard input.
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
.I Dgn_comp
is a dungeon compiler for NetHack version 3.2 and higher.  It
takes a description file as an argument and produces a dungeon "script" 
that is to be loaded by NetHack at runtime.
.PP
The purpose of this tool is to provide NetHack administrators and
implementors with a convenient way to create a custom dungeon for the
game, without having to recompile the entire world.
.SH GRAMMAR
.PP
DUNGEON: 
.B name
.B bonesmarker
(
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B %age
]
.PP
where
.B name
is the dungeon name,
.B bonesmarker
is a letter for marking bones files, (
.B base
, 
.B rand
) is the number of levels, and
.B %age
is its percentage chance of being generated (if absent, 100% chance).

DESCRIPTION:
.B tag
.PP
where
.B tag
is currently one of
.BR HELLISH ,
.BR MAZELIKE ,
or
.BR ROGUELIKE .

ALIGNMENT | LEVALIGN: [
.B lawful
|
.B neutral
|
.B chaotic
|
.B unaligned
]
.PP
gives the alignment of the dungeon/level (default is unaligned).

ENTRY:
.B level
.PP
the dungeon entry point.  The dungeon connection attaches at this
level of the given dungeon.
If the value of
.B level
is negative, the entry level is calculated from the bottom of the
dungeon, with -1 being the last level.
If this line is not present in a dungeon description, the entry level
defaults to 1.

PROTOFILE:
.B name
.PP
the prototypical name for dungeon level files in this dungeon.
For example, the PROTOFILE name for the dungeon
.I Vlad's Tower
is
.IR tower .

LEVEL:
.B name
.B bonesmarker
@ (
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B %age
]
.PP
where
.B name
is the level name,
.B bonesmarker
is a letter for marking bones files, (
.B base
, 
.B rand
) is the location and
.B %age
is the generation percentage, as above.

RNDLEVEL:
.B name
.B bonesmarker
@ (
.B base
,
.B rand
)
[
.B %age
]
.B rndlevs
.PP
where
.B name
is the level name,
.B bonesmarker
is a letter for marking bones files, (
.B base
, 
.B rand
) is the location,
.B %age
is the generation percentage, as above, and
.B rndlevs
is the number of similar levels available to choose from.

CHAINLEVEL:
.B name
.B bonesmarker
.B prev_name
+ (
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B %age
]
.PP
where
.B name
is the level name,
.B bonesmarker
is a letter for marking bones files,
.B prev_name
is the name of a level defined previously, (
.B base
,
.B rand
) is the
.I offset
from the level being chained from, and
.B %age
is the generation percentage.

RNDCHAINLEVEL:
.B name
.B bonesmarker
.B prev_name
+ (
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B %age
]
.B rndlevs
.PP
where
.B name
is the level name,
.B bonesmarker
is a letter for marking bones files,
.B prev_name
is the name of a level defined previously, (
.B base
,
.B rand
) is the
.I offset
from the level being chained from,
.B %age
is the generation percentage, and
.B rndlevs
is the number of similar levels available to choose from.

LEVELDESC:
.B type
.PP
where
.B type
is the level type, (see DESCRIPTION, above). The
.B type
is used to override any pre-set value used to describe the entire dungeon,
for this level only.

BRANCH:
.B name
@ (
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B stair
|
.B no_up
|
.B no_down
|
.B portal
] [
.B up
|
.B down
]
.PP
where
.B name
is the name of the dungeon to branch to, and (
.B base
,
.B rand
) is the location of the branch.
The last two optional arguments are
the branch type and branch direction.
The type of a branch can be a two-way stair connection,
a one-way stair connection, or a magic portal.
A one-way stair is described by the types
.B no_up
and
.B no_down
which specify which stair direction is missing.
The default branch type is
.BR stair .
The direction for a stair can be either up or down; direction is not
applicable to portals.  The default direction is
.BR down .

CHAINBRANCH:
.B name
.B prev_name
+ (
.B base
,
.B rand
) [
.B stair
|
.B no_up
|
.B no_down
|
.B portal
] [
.B up
|
.B down
]
.PP
where
.B name
is the name of the dungeon to branch to,
.B prev_name
is the name of a previously defined
.B level
and (
.B base
,
.B rand
) is the
.I offset
from the level being chained from.
The optional branch type and direction are the same as described above.
.SH GENERIC RULES
.PP
Each dungeon must have a unique
.B bonesmarker ,
and each special level must have a
.B bonesmarker
unique within its dungeon (letters may be reused in different dungeons).
If the
.B bonesmarker
has the special value "none", no bones files will be created for that
level or dungeon.
.PP
The value
.B base
may be in the range of 1 to
.B MAXLEVEL
(as defined in
.I global.h
).
.PP
The value
.B rand
may be in the range of -1 to
.BR MAXLEVEL .
.PP
If
.B rand
is -1 it will be replaced with the value (num_dunlevs(dungeon) - base)
during the load process (ie. from here to the end of the dungeon).
.PP
If
.B rand
is 0 the level is located absolutely at
.BR base .
.PP
Branches don't have a probability.  Dungeons do.  If a dungeon fails
to be generated during load, all its levels and branches are skipped.
.PP
No level or branch may be chained from a level with a percentage generation
probability.  This is to prevent non-resolution during the load.
In addition, no branch may be made from a dungeon with a percentage
generation probability for the same reason.
.PP
As a general rule using the dungeon compiler:
.PP
If a dungeon has a
.B protofile
name associated with it
.RI ( eg.
.BR tower )
that file will be used.
.PP
If a special level is present, it will override the above rule and
the appropriate file will be loaded.
.PP
If neither of the above are present, the standard generator will
take over and make a "normal" level.
.PP
A level alignment, if present, will override
the alignment of the dungeon that it exists within.
.SH EXAMPLE
.PP
Here is the current syntax of the dungeon compiler's "language":

.LP
.nf
.ta +8n +8n +8n
#
#	The dungeon description file for the "standard" original
#	3.0 NetHack.
#
DUNGEON:	"The Dungeons of Doom" "D" (25, 5)
LEVEL:		"rogue" "none" @ (15, 4)
LEVEL:		"oracle" "none" @ (5, 7)
LEVEL:		"bigroom" "B" @ (12, 3) 15
LEVEL:		"medusa" "none" @ (20, 5)
CHAINLEVEL:	"castle" "medusa" + (1, 4)
CHAINBRANCH:	"Hell" "castle" + (0, 0) no_down
BRANCH:		"The Astral Plane" @ (1, 0) no_down up

DUNGEON:	"Hell" "H" (25, 5)
DESCRIPTION:	mazelike
DESCRIPTION:	hellish
BRANCH:		"Vlad's Tower" @ (13, 5) up
LEVEL:		"wizard" "none" @ (15, 10)
LEVEL:		"fakewiz" "A" @ (5, 5)
LEVEL:		"fakewiz" "B" @ (10, 5)
LEVEL:		"fakewiz" "C" @ (15, 5)
LEVEL:		"fakewiz" "D" @ (20, 5)
LEVEL:		"fakewiz" "E" @ (25, 5)

DUNGEON:	"Vlad's Tower" "T" (3, 0)
PROTOFILE:	"tower"
DESCRIPTION:	mazelike
ENTRY:		-1

DUNGEON:	"The Astral Plane" "A" (1, 0)
DESCRIPTION:	mazelike
PROTOFILE:	"endgame"
.fi
.PP
.I NOTES:
.br
Lines beginning with '#' are considered comments.
.br
A special level must be explicitly aligned.  The alignment of the dungeon
it is in only applies to non-special levels within that dungeon.
.SH AUTHOR
.PP
M. Stephenson (from the level compiler by Jean-Christophe Collet).
.SH "SEE ALSO"
.PP
lev_comp(6), nethack(6)
.SH BUGS
.PP
Probably infinite.