rezrov - an Infocom game interpreter DESCRIPTION Rezrov is an implementation of a z-machine written in pure perl. In other words, it's a program that can play Infocom games, such as Zork. Its chief distinguishing feature from other z-code interpreters is a wide array of cheat commands. Full documentation, in POD format, can be found embedded in the file "rezrov". See http://www.voicenet.com/~mikeedmo/rezrov/ for online documentation, screenshots, etc. COPYRIGHT Copyright (c) 1998, 1999 Michael Edmonson . All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself. REVISION HISTORY 0.17 Sun Jun 13 16:18:49 EDT 1999 - new cheat commands: - "lummox": remove restrictions on number and weight of items that may be carried - "systolic": lower blood pressure ("Bureaucracy" only) - optimizations: - many simple methods inlined via more regexp/eval munging (see InlinedPrivateMethod.pm) - tweak opcode/operand loading - runs between 7-10% faster. - interface fixes: - Tk: - arrow keys now work in Beyond Zork - Bureaucracy scrolling pause now works correctly - code is less hideous - Curses: backspace more reliable - Termcap: screen attributes reset correctly - Win32::Console: buffer keypresses - "-24h" flag, show time games in 24-hour time rather than AM/PM - "teleport" to character locations in Suspect now works. - various miscellaneous fixes 0.16 Sun Mar 7 20:50:43 EST 1999 - more optimizations: - ZFrame.pm gone, call stack now in StoryFile.pm - a bit more "macro"-style inlining - StoryFile.pm is now completely static; oh well, it was never truly OO anyway. - overall about 20-25% faster. Don't know if I can speed it up any more. Suggestions very welcome! - perl 5.005 is now required. - tentative support for new v8 games; "anchorhead.z8" starts, but looks like you'll need a gHz to play it :/ - new cheat command: "spiel", decode *all* game text. Can reveal easter eggs, debug messages, and all-around interesting things you may have missed; see documentation - partial support for character graphics in Tk and Curses interfaces; Beyond Zork now works much much better. [see screenshots at WWW site above] - fix a few bugs with interactions between undo/restore and some cheat commands - fix Quetzal compatibility bug 0.15 Sun Jan 24 17:41:39 EST 1999 - Optimizations: - some memory-access and variable casting functions inlined using regexp/eval hack (blech). - hand-inline opcode loading - cache object properties - overall seems to run between 15-25% faster. - packages renamed from Rezrov:: to Games::Rezrov (for CPAN) - new cheat commands: "travis": attempts to fool the game into thinking the item you specify is a weapon. Zork I only for now; slay the troll with your mighty leaflet. "tail": automatically follow a character in a game as they move from room to room 0.14 Sun Jan 10 20:35:53 EST 1999 - new cheat verb: "frotz" (only for some games). Frotz, from the spell in "Enchanter", turns any item into a light source, obviating the need for fuel/batteries. See the documentation for full details. - If you specify an item name for "teleport", it will take you to the room containing the item - now passes all "strictz.z5" object 0 torture tests - the usual little tweaks and fixes 0.13 Sun Jan 3 22:15:46 EST 1999 - fixed color support (Tk, Curses, Win32 console) - cheat commands: - new commands: "rooms" and "items" - "teleport" shows description of new room - "pilfer" attempts to move pilfered item into inventory - "omap" object dump more reliable - more etude.z5 z-machine torture tests passed - more code reorganization/thrashing 0.12 Tue Dec 1 21:16:26 EST 1998 - added Tk interface (works under both X and win32) - i/o layer reorganized - many little glitches fixed 0.11 Sat Oct 24 20:27:08 EDT 1998 - about 10-15% faster: - cache game objects - streamline handling of decoded text - convert to blessed arrays instead of hashes - A few more critical globals :( - slightly improved v5 compatibility - emulation of the "#reco", "#unre" and "#comm" command-transcript commands 0.10 Sun Oct 18 20:07:19 EDT 1998 - first public release PREREQUISITES Rezrov is written in pure perl, no extension compilation is required. Perl version 5.005 or later is required. Optionally supported but not required: Tk (version 800.*) Curses Term::Cap Win32::Console Term::ReadLine HOW TO BUILD AND INSTALL perl Makefile.PL make make test make install After installation, run rezrov on a z-code file, such as the provided minizork.z3: "rezrov minizork.z3". MANUAL INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS If you are using a binary distribution of perl the "generic" instructions above will most likely fail. The following are instructions on how to install rezrov by hand. Rezrov consists of two basic pieces: a set of packages (*.pm files), and a script called "rezrov". The *.pm files need to be installed in a subdirectory called "Games/Rezrov" somewhere in Perl's module search path (@INC). "rezrov" is the main wrapper program that requires these modules to run; it can go anywhere you like. For example, on a Windows 95/98/etc machine, using the ActiveState distribution of perl 5.005 installed in C:\PERL, you would need to: 1. mkdir C:\perl\lib\site\Games 2. mkdir C:\perl\lib\site\Games\Rezrov 3. copy *.pm c:\perl\lib\site\Games\Rezrov 4. perl rezrov minizork.z3