+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                              README.TXT                                |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                          SLASH'EM ver 0.0.7                            |
|               Super Lotsa Added Stuff Hack - Extended Magic            |
|                           A Nethack Variant                            |
| Courtesy of the Slash'EM development team with the efforts and support |
| of countless others, especially the slashem-devel mailing list.        |
|                                                             (1997-2003)|
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nethack is Copyright 1985-2003                                         |
|            By Stichting Mathematisch Centrum and M. Stephenson.        |
| SLASH'EM and NetHack may be freely redistributed.                      |
| See license for details.                                               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+-------+
| Index |
+-------+

1 - News
	1.1 Status
	1.2 Changes
2 - Getting started
	2.1 Using official binaries
	2.2 Playing the game
	2.3 Building it yourself
3 - What is the Nature of this Beast?
4 - Who is Responsible & The Credits
	4.1 The dev-team
	4.2 Acknowledgements
5 - Further reading

+-----------------+
| Section 1: News |
+-----------------+

1.1 Status
----------

The development of version 0.0.7 of Slash'EM started with version 0.0.6E5
(yes, we realise our version numbers are a little odd - it made sense at
the time!). This is intended to be one of the last alpha versions. We are
asking for comments on the new features over the months of June and July
2003 with a view to making any last changes which are needed before
releasing the first beta version.

If you do have comments to make then please either submit a feature
request (if you know exactly what it is you think the game should do
differently) via the offical RFE page:

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=9746&atid=359746

If, on the other hand, you know you don't like something but aren't quite
sure how to improve it then please discuss it on the development forum:

http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=30378

(If you don't have web access, then use the slashem-discuss mailing list,
instead; see below.)

Please log bugs via the offical bug page:

http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=9746

If you are interested in the development of Slash'EM, please also join
the slashem-devel mailing list so that you can take part in discussions
and give us any feedback.

If you'd just like to talk about Slash'EM with other players or chat to
the developers, then please join the slashem-discuss mailing list.

Finally, all users are encouraged to join the slashem-announce list,
which is very low traffic but will keep you up to date on new versions.

Slash'EM mailing list page (including archives):

http://sourceforge.net/mail/?group_id=9746

All the above, and more, are available via our home page:

http://www.slashem.org/

1.2 Changes
-----------

ver 0.0.7E1 [June 2/2003] [Released by Ali]
-Actioned feature request 414274: Lazy yn_function().
-GTK: Added profile for saving eg., session data:
  [UNIX] stored in ~/.gtkhackrc
  [WIN32] stored in registry
-Actioned feature request 492518: resize inventory window.
-Actioned feature request 421535: shop keepers are too dumb.
-Applied patch 687552: Grund's stronghold.
-GTK: Ported to Gtk+ 2.2.x
-GTK: Replaced obsolete 1.2 interface with new 2.x version.
-Actioned feature request 487616: Put lightsabers under config control.
-fixed bug 733338: Crash when monster attacks an empty space (Rich Walker).
-Actioned feature request 454805: cloak of "poisonousness"?
-Actioned feature request 513881: Count Dracula/Vlad the Impaler race.
-Actioned feature request 538741: Multiple random place arrays.
-Actioned feature request 457867: <verbose armor name> blocks (Lars Huttar).
-Actioned feature request 459915: displacer beast appearance.
-Actioned feature request 422908: Flame Sphere+ water blast trap.
-Actioned feature request 616101: Cannibalism and Cavemen.
-Actioned feature request 513873: skill in Spell of Enchant <foo>.
-Actioned feature request 459902: YAFM suggestion: good vibes.
-Actioned feature request 709525: ki-rin are humanoid.
-fixed bug 729024: Sokoban dead end.
-fixed bug 617219: data.base has many redundant entries.
-fixed bug 604681: MR_PLUSONE etc unimplemented.
-fixed bug 734765: level-draining Thiefbane.
-fixed bug 737751: Thiefbane referred to as vorpal blade.
-fixed bug 466802: Items which count as magic.
-fixed bug 575210: Invisible mummy wrappings.
-fixed bug 405815: Invisible gold is inconsistent.
-fixed bug 609748: Elfrist should be PM_ORC.
-fixed bug 603179: Holy wafers in und.slayer starting inv.
-Proxy: Added window interface capabilities.
-GTK: Added preferences dialog.
-Actioned feature request 710544: Rename Fuzzy Spellbook.
-Actioned feature request 716698: rothe color is different from 3.4.1
-fixed bug 739987: impossible boolean condition.
-Actioned feature request 464475: recentering view with gtk: optional.
-Actioned feature request 421203: Mages' draconic polymorph.
-Updated tilesets to use latest version of Mitsuhiro Itakura's tiles.
-Applied patch 467847 (updated): Prettier GTK buttons & status highlight.
-GtkHack: Added connections dialogs.
-fixed bug 731418: #twoweaponing?
-fixed bug 742693: Cannot read engravings without spending a turn.
-GtkHack: Connections are now stored in profile.
-GtkHack: Now reads local config file & uploads to proxy server.

See history.txt for changes made in previous versions.

+----------------------------+
| Section 2: Getting started |
+----------------------------+

2.1 Using official binaries
---------------------------

The Slash'EM development team make offical binaries available for a few
platforms. There are other, unofficial, binaries available as well which
will come with their own instructions.

2.1.1 DOS
---------

Support for this platform is sporadic at best. You may find you have to
use an unofficial binary. When an official binary is provided:

o Decompress the zip archive into its own directory.
o Use a text editor to review defaults.nh and make any changes needed.
o If you chose to keep the fancy graphical environment (the allegro
  interface) by leaving video set to autodetect, then review alleg.cnf
  as well (this file is ignored in VGA tile mode).
o Run the slashem executable.

2.1.2 MAC
---------

The MAC binary comes with its own documentation which you should consult.

2.1.3 Linux RPMs
----------------

Perform the following steps:

o Install the package using rpm -U <package file>
o Read the RPM specific documentation in README.RPM
o In case of difficulty, consult Ali's linux page:

  http://avrc.city.ac.uk/nethack/slashem/linux.html

2.1.4 MS-Windows
----------------

Perform the following steps:

o Decompress the zip archive into its own directory.
o Use a text editor to review defaults.nh and make any changes needed.
o If you chose to keep the default graphical environment (the GTK
  interface) by leaving windowtype set to gtk, then review gtkrc
  as well (this file is ignored in other modes).
o Run the slashem executable.

2.2 Playing the game
--------------------

Once in the game, type in the name for your alter ego.  You will then
be prompted to select your character's role and race.  Select a gender
and alignment, if necessary.  Once you're on the dungeon map, use the
number pad to move around (or the standard roguelike keys [yuhjklbn],
if your turn off number_pad).  Move into monsters to attack them.
Help is the '?' key, inventory is 'i'.

Try out the menu system by hitting the ` key.

2.3 Building it yourself
------------------------

If you don't already have a copy of the source code for Slash'EM then
get the source tarball via our homepage:

http://www.slashem.org/

Then read the installation instructions specific to your platform,
as follows:

	Amiga		sys/amiga/Install.ami
	Atari		sys/atari/Install.tos
	MAC		sys/mac/Install.mpw
	MS-DOS		sys/msdos/Install.dos
	OS/2		sys/os2/Install.os2
	UNIX		sys/unix/Install.unx
	VMS		sys/vms/Install.vms
	MS-WinCE	sys/wince/Install.ce
	MS-Win32	sys/winnt/Install.gcc

+----------------------------------------------+
| Section 3: What is the Nature of this Beast? |
+----------------------------------------------+

THE PROBLEM:  The AMULET OF YENDOR has been stolen.  Not only that but
it appears that the Wizard of Yendor (not a nice person), who took the
amulet, is hiding in the Dungeons of Doom (not a friendly place).

The SOLUTION:  Well, armies have been suggested.  Maybe hiring a superhero
or two.  Unfortunately, it seems that it is more economical to offer a
reward and let some poor adventurer with dreams of glory go and get it.
Guess who's got the enviable job of saving the day...

Super Lotsa Added Stuff Hack - Extended Magic (SLASH'EM) is a role-playing
game where you control a single character.  The interface and gameplay
are similar in style to Rogue, ADOM, Angband and, of course, Nethack.
You control the actions through the keyboard and view the world from an
overhead perspective.

+--------------------------------------------+
| Section 4: Who's Responsible & The Credits |
+--------------------------------------------+

4.1 The dev-team
----------------

o Project administrators:  Warren Cheung and J. Ali Harlow
o Developers: Pekka Rousu and Andrew Apted
o Mac port: Paul Hurtley

4.2 Acknowledgements
--------------------

Thanks to Kevin Hugo (hugo@cae.wisc.edu), the previous Macintosh
maintainer and the author of many changes, who has had to move on to 
other projects.

Thanks to Dirk Schnberger (shoenberger@signsoft.com), who worked on
the Qt and Linux ports.

Thanks to Ben Olmstead for mirroring the homepage.

Thanks for the support, bug reports and suggestions of 
(in no particular order):

	Pat Rankin, Linley Henzell, 0ystein Kerstad, Jim Miller, pi,
	Steven Uy, Alex Critchfield, Mike Balcom, Sascha Wostmann,
	Drew Curtis, Daniel Krause, E. P. Dinklewhopper, Tim Jordan,
	Lukas Geyer, Kresimir Kukulj, Brent Oster, Travis McKay,
	Jared Withington, Philippe-Antoine Menard, Ain Uustare,
	Doug Yanega, David Tang, Lief Clennon, Robert Herman, Petra Prinz,
	Aki Lumme, Nick Number, Robin Johnson, Heiko Niemeier, Chris Bevan,
	David Damerell, Kevin Hugo, Daniel Mayer, Ben Olmstead, Tom Friedetzky,
	Kalle Niemitalo, Sabine Fischer, Christian Bressler, Jake Kesinger,
	Chris Subich, Paul Sonier, Peter Makholm, Matthew Ryan, J. Ali Harlow,
	George Stephens, Bruce Cox, Edward Walker, Karl Garrisson,
	Finn Theoderson, Kelly Bailey, Seth Friedman, Jonathan Nieder,
	Eva R. Myers, Darshan Shaligram, Tina Hall, Christian Cooper.

+----------------------------+
| Section 5: Further Reading |
+----------------------------+

o Slash'EM Homepage: http://www.slashem.org/
o Ali's Slash'EM page: http://avrc.city.ac.uk/nethack/slashem.html
o Eva's spoiler page: http://www.statslab.cam.ac.uk/~eva/slashem/index.html
