+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                             HISTORY.TXT                                |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                          SLASH'EM ver 0.0.4E1                          |
|               Super Lotsa Added Stuff Hack - Extended Magic            |
|                           A Nethack Variant                            |
| Courtesy of Warren Cheung (wac@intergate.bc.ca) (1997,1998)            |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Nethack is Copyright (c) Mike Stephenson, Izchak Miller  1991.         |
| SLASH'EM and NetHack may be freely redistributed.                      |
| See license for details.                                               |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

+------------------------+
|Section 0.0 Today's Menu|
+------------------------+
1.0     Yesterday's News
2.0     Storytime

+----------------------------+
|Section 1.0 Yesterday's News|
+----------------------------+
ver 0.0.3E9 [August XX/1998]
-fixed game crashing bug.  All machines should be able to get past the
        selection screen without crashing now. (save.c)

ver 0.0.3E8 [August 10/1998]
-no longer get "<foo> gets angry!" if monster is not visible (mon.c)
-fixed game crashing when kicking stoning corpse with bare feet (dokick.c)
-Wallet of Perseus should now explode if you put a wand of cancellation,
        etc. in it (obj.h)
-Game Crashing bug fix:  Fatal error when drowning while carrying no inventory
        and a lot of gold (trap.c)
-cancellation now eliminates sliming,  drain exp attacks from harming you
        (mhitu.c)
-removed extra carriage returns in 'A' special ability (cmd.c)
-Barbarians can read spellbooks again,  albeit unreliably (their "Magic! Bah!"
        comes up often) (read.c)
-blessed keys, credit cards,  etc. break off less often in locks. (lock.c)
-it is no longer as difficult to open tins using dark elven daggers,
        great dagger, silver dagger (eat.c)
-if you try to fire with no ammo,  will go to standard throw prompt
        (dothrow.c)
-having strength 18/91-18/99 no longer gives +11 damage bonus - is now +3
        (weapon.c)
-Ice Mage now has levels Cooler, Condenser, Chiller, Froster, Permafroster,
        Icer, Freezer, Sublimer, Ice-Master (botl.c)
-Flame Mage now goes through named levels Spark, Igniter, Broiler, Combuster,
        Torcher, Scorcher, Incinerator, Disintegrator,  Flame_master. (botl.c)
-Player's with Con > 15 also have a chance of getting the "Strange....no etc."
        msg (potion.c)
-fixed a silly bug...Barbarians can drink potions successfully again
        (potion.c)
-Turn condensed back to T:,  Levitate is now Float on status bar (botl.c)
-now runs in 24 lines (rather than 25) for compatability with other platforms
        (botl.c)
-made getting djinni's from smoky potions more frequent.  Used to be one in
        200+ chance... (potion.c)
-recompiled using gcc 2.8.1 for more stability
-fire/frost/etc weapons now have interesting effects when dipped/etc.
-"bad monster weapon restore" bug should be fixed (crude hack here)
        (restore.c)
-updated slashem.6
-you can also drink objects on the ground (see reading) (potion.c)
-you can now read objects off the ground (like eating) (read.c)
-shopkeepers get services randomly
        (eshk.h, shk.c, shknam.c)
-shopkeeper services should now be #ifdef OTHER_SERVICES
        (shk.c, config.h)
-there is now premium service available for identification
        (shk.c)
-all 'foo'sabers are now bimanual. (objects.c)
-'--help' command line option should invoke command-line help (pcmain.c)
-spoon is now a "whacking" weapon,  rather than piercing (objects.c)
-rapier is now classed as a saber (weapon.c)
-new option {pickup_burden} lets you specify when the game should start
        prompting you about lifting heavy things.
        (options.c, flag.h, pickup.c, guideboo.mn, guideboo.tex)
-can no longer get endure cold/heat if flame or ice mage
-hopefully fixed doubled spellbook bug in initial inventory
        (u_init.c, spell.c)
-You get messages when dipping frost/fire weapons into water
        (potion.c, artifact.c)
-prayer timeout is reset to zero right after successful altar conversion
        (pray.c)
-fixed (hopefully) the swapwep problem for good.  Really.  (I hope).
        So I don't read all the comments :)
        As a matter of note, I've finally discovered that the bitfields
        are in octal form.   And a long being only guaranteed to have 32 bits,
        it's interesting to note that there's been a use made of 31 of them...
        (obj.h)
-changed typename() to obj_typename()
-fixed naming a known wand of fireball/fire when breaking/exploding (apply.c)
-fixed naming known potion in blackmarket (potion.c)

ver 0.0.3E7 [June 11/1998]
-fixed a couple typos in the 'D' quest (quest.txt)
-fixed undeleted light source when artifacts are destroyed
        (extern.h, mkobj.c, artifact.c, light.c)
-fixed PYEC doing a level teleport when "nothing happens" (artifact.c)
-Elves/Drow now have expert quarterstaff skill - quest arty for Drow
        is Tentacle Staff (u_init.c)
-Gnomes now have expert pickaxe skill - their quest arty was a pickaxe,
        no less! (u_init.c)
-dragons and other monsters with door destroying breath weapons will
        use their breath weapon do destroy doors (monmove.c, mthrowu.c, extern.h)
-acid will melt away doors (zap.c)
-rings of strength can now counter robe of weakness (attrib.c)
-gauntlets of power and rings of strength can now work in tandem. (attrib.c)
-gauntlets of power will now only counteract effect of robe of weakness.
        (attrib.c)
-pickaxes now have a bonus against statue gargoyles and stone golems
        (weapon.c)
-wands of digging now affect earth elementals, xorns, statue gargoyles,
        stone golems and boulders. (dig.c, zap.c)
-can now quiver secondary weapons and wield quivered weapons (wield.c)
-spell cure sickness, Healers' and Knights' special ability will remove
        slime. (spell.c, cmd.c)
-not penalized for trying to reinforce a spell that doesn't need
        to be.  (spell.c)
-did all kinds of funny things to hopefully fix the "bad monsndx" bug.
        -removed messages
        -changed variable from a permonst pointer to an int PM array #
        -moved variable...was conflicting with mextra array
        (timeout.c, makemon.c,  monst.h)
-eroded and other adjetives can have funny caps now when wishing (objnam.c)
-Thiefbane should now exist as an artifact weaponand wishable
        (objnam.c, artilist.h)
-changed Lord Vlad the Impaler to Count Dracula. Yes,  I know they are
        related,  but one is fiction,  the other is real.  Plus,
        this helps keep them slightly apart.
        (monst.c, monsters.txt, slayer.des, questpgr.c)
-spoon named Houchou is a chaotic artifact - 9999 damage when thrown
        and hits :)
        (uhitm.c, dothrow.c, weapon.c,  mthrowu.c)
-spoon is now normal object - no special abilities.
-'\' shows intrinsic and discoveries on same screen  - intrinsic knowledge
        is prefixed with a "*" (o_init.c)

ver 0.0.3E6 [June 04/1998]
-will no longer see correct name for priests, minions, angels when
        hallucinating (do_name.c)
-valkyries now get a +1 spear rather than a long sword (u_init.c)
-monks no longer get spellbooks of sleep - spellbooks of resist sickness
        instead (u_init.c)
-'\' command now also shows "Intrinsic" knowledge
-can now wish for Graywand, Staff of Withering, Hand/Eye of Vecna,
        Stake of Van Helsing, Wallet of Perseus, Medallion of Shifters
        (objnam.c)
-can now wish for an aklys (objnam.c)
-made w_swapwep and w_quiver 0200000000L and 0400000000L
        hopefully remove problem of randomly occurring (secondary weapon)
        and (in quiver) (obj.h)
-removed tempwep - unused (wield.c, worn.c, decl.c, decl.h, obj.h)
-added keyboard accelerators to slamfaq.txt
-"bad monster weapon" bug when corpse wielded by a monster rots away fixed
        (dig.c)
-exploding wands of polymorph and drinking potions of polymorph
        no longer cause polymorphing on Blackmarket level (potion.c, apply.c)
-"let me run run my fingers through your hair" succubus message fixed
        (mhitu.c)
-the "Strange...nothing much happens" when 'B' quaff potions no longer
        id's the potion.  Message is now standard nothing happening message
        (potion.c)
-only burning explosion destroys player corpse (explode.c)
-death by exploding monster is now recorded correctly (explode.c, mon.c)
-problem with petshop shopkeeper's names fixed? (shknam.c)
-dipping objects into potions of polymorph now causes object polymorphing
        (potion.c)
-version (normal and extended) now display game name as per DEF_GAME_NAME
        (defined in patchlev.h (or patchlevel.h))
        (makedefs.c)
-pc versions now have "Welcome to DEF_GAME_NAME" as defined in patchlev.h
        (pcmain.c)
-made guidebook short name #ifdef SHORT_FILENAMES (global.h)
-added Title bar changing for DOS boxes under Win95 (pcmain.c, msdos.c)
-system shock now does damage to monsters rather than just killing outright
        -polymorph traps can now cause system shock (trap.c, zap.c)
-polymorphed monsters will revert to old forms after a period of time
        -potions, spells/zaps, traps
        (extern.h, timeout.c, zap.c,  light.c, trap.c)
-graves should no longer in "unique" rooms (mklev.c)
-save_prompt has been merged with keep_save...however,  use with caution.  It
        seems that there are buglets in the save/restore code... (save.c)
-bullwhip won't be able to yank out cursed weapons
        (apply.c, muse.c)
-replaced mine levels with 3.2.2 levels. Removed minefill.des and
        mineend.des (mines.des, dungeon.def)
-monsters will no longer wield non-petrifying corpses. (weapon.c)
-troll mummies leave troll corpses (mon.c)
-eating petrification egg now results in correct final screen message
-artifact wishing is back the way it used to be (objnam.c)
-the inventory accessible by the '*' key now has the right appendages
        when polymorphed (invent.c)
-monster casting spells will no longer create pools of water
        on top of pools of water, altars,  clouds or in the air. (mcastu.c)
-wands of create horde will act similarly to wands of create monster
        if applied/exploded (explosive blast will be 2x stronger though)
        (apply.c)
-let you loot a chest on top of a grave (pickup.c)
-characters with intrinsic/automatic special powers no longer
        lose a turn. (cmd.c)
-monsters hitting monsters take silver, stake damage (mhitm.c)
-monsters hitting you with stakes do bonus damage if you're vampire
        (mhitu.c)
-fixed bug where monster name and corpse name were mixed up with monster
        hitting you with corpse (mhitu.c)
-monsters use stakes (weapon.c)
-Stake of Van Helsing always has 1/20 chance of vaporizing vampires
        (uhitm.c)
-Ogre king is now level 9 (monst.c) - used to be 7 (same as Ogre Lord!)
-removed save_prompt as it was causing savefile problems (save.c)
-'B' should no longer get spellbooks from praying. (pray.c)
-chickatrice grows into cockatrice,  hatches from cockatrice eggs.
        (mondata.c)
-master mind flayer get mental blast and telepathy
        (polyself.c,  cmd.c, monmove.c, allmain.c)
-Rodney summons
        -vamp mages rather than lords
        -master mind flayers rather than mind flayers
        (wizard.c)
-vampire mages leave human corpses (mon.c)
-piles of killer coins will "grow up" to large and huge piles (mondata.c)
-fixed applying wands of enlightenment (apply.c)
-fixed inventories so ice mage/flame mages can't have doubled spellbooks
        (u_init.c)
-more fixes from Max
        -fixed spell % success inconsistencies (spell.c)
        -fixed bracketing and casting
                (apply.c, artifact.c,  ball.c, botl.c, cmd.c,
                detect.c, do_wear.c, dog.c, dogmove.c, do_throw.c,
                eat.c, engrave.c, explode.c,  files.c, fountain.c,
                hacklib.c, invent.c, makemon.c, mhitu.c,  mkobj.c,
                mon.c, music.c,  objnam.c, options.c,  potion.c,
                pray.c,  read.c,  sp_lev.c, trap.c, uhitm.c, wield.c,
                worn.c, zap.c
        -limited "chain combo" of 'L' to 4 hits (give the enemy a chance to
                dodge) (uhitm.c)
        -added more extern fcns (extern.h)
        -prototypes (hack.h)
        -added SVR4 to machines that need msleep(k) redefined (unixconf.h)
        -tweaked special ability durations again (cmd.c)
-fixed turning to stone when engulfing.  Forgot a ! in an if statement ;B
        (uhitm.c)
-remove extra period in "caught himself in his own ...."  (explode.c)
-'c' is always lawful (u_init.c)
-'u', 'v' weapon id special ability no longer crashes when attempting to
        id non-weapons (cmd.c)
-optimization has been dropped to O2 to prevent compile errors (makefile)
-snuffing out candle of eternal flame - used wrong object variable (apply.c)
ver 0.0.3E5 [Apr 30/1998]
-Doppelgangers have a 1:20 chance of becoming a "new man" rather than 1:5
        (polyself.c)
-can no longer wield a pickaxe by applying if holding a shield. (apply.c)
-made all character classes level 10,  and just G_NOGEN
        -change to no special gen flags?
        (monst.c)
-bad food has been moved before worm tail so that it will be randomly
        generated in the dungeon (monst.c)
-if you are polymorphed as green slime,  sliming has no effect
        -you get to passively respond to sliming
        -if fire elemental,  fire vortex - Immunity
        (mhitu.c)
-ghouls will no longer eat stoning corpses, riders(!!) (eat.c)
-fix cockatrice, basilisk, chickatrice and pyrolisk (and eggs)
        -eat corpse: pyrolisk no longer stones, basilisk stones
        -eating eggs: basilisk, chickatrice, asphynx now stone
        (eat.c)
        -throwing: eggs, corpses  - basilisk, chickatrice, asphynx now stone
                at self (dothrow.c)
        -pets will no longer eat corpses, eggs (dog.c, dogmove.c)
        -touching corpses (invent.c)
        -monsters attacking each other with corpses (mhitm.c)
        -tinning (apply.c)
        -wielding (do_wear.c)
        -monsters picking up without gloves, eating
                (mon.c)
        -monsters regurgitating, attacking you with corpse
                swallowing (mhitu.c)
        -picking up corpses (pickup.c)
        -monsters stealing corpses (steal.c)
        -no killer == by petrification (timeout.c)
        -touching after falling -players and monsters
        -untrapping (trap.c)
        -gloved monsters will look for petrifying corpses (muse.c)
        -monsters will wield all petrifying corpses (weapon.c)
        -wielding petrifying corpse w/o gloves == stoning (wield.c)
        -kicking petrifying corpse stones (dokick.c)
        -eating petrifiers,  throwing eggs, hitting with corpse (uhitm.c)
        -if polymorphed in to a biter/tentacle/kicker,  will not use touch
                attack if wielding a weapon and attacking a cockatrice.
                Same for monsters wielding weapon but also having hth attacks.
                (eg.  mind flayers)
                (uhitm.c, mhitm.c, mhitu.c)
-fixed selfpolymorph into silver dragon not giving reflection
        silver dragon armor gives protection from god lightning
        and monster defensive gaze attacks
        (mhitu.c, zap.c, pray.c, uhitm.c, youprop.h)
-for some reason,  Wizard Patch made the probability of being hit by
        a wand always 15/20.  Now based on AC
        (zap.c)
-you will now die if polymorphed and hit by a wand of death/disintegration
        blast.  Fixed bug in losehp that 'return' before the check for
        negative hp if poly'ed
        (hack.c)
-losehp no longer does damage to your original hp if polymorphed (hack.c)
-eating mimick corpse used to always end with " prefer mimicking a human"
        even when polymorphed. Will also catch gnomes as well now (eat.c) 
-dark elven equip do MUCHO more damage in the hands of elves
        - especially during special ability... (uhitm.c)
-fixing the dropping some of quiver/secondary weapon unwields all
        standard 'd'rop and traditional 'D'
        (invent.c)
-bugfixes (A big thanks to Max for sending me a patch containing almost
all of this of this - all I did was check do a couple small corrections
or changes!) function declarations, unused variables, typedefs
variables not correctly casted, brackets - major code cleanup!...
        -fixed/added some prototypes
                (extern.h, system.h)
        -removed unused var temp
                (allmain.c)
        -fixed casts
        -fixed brackets
                (apply.c)
        -corrected prototyping,  sprintf syntax,  casts
                (botl.c)
        -corrected fcn declarations
        -removed unused variable res in makemenu
        -junk_char in parse is now ifdef BORG
                (cmd.c)
        -cast fix
                (dokick.c)
        -volley count fix
        -cast fix
        -fcn declaration
                (dothrow.c)
        -fixed ambiguous brackets
                (eat.c)
        -made resist message nonambiguous resistance type
        -now showdmg as per uhitm
                (explode.c)
        -added prototypes for redirect, docompress
        -made filename, mode in redirect and docompress const char
                (files.c)
        -losehp does no dmg if invulnerable
                (hack.c)
        -missed check for accessing null variable in new menu access UI
                (invent.c)
        -bracketing
                (makemon.c)
        -survive poisin if invulnerable
                (mon.c)
        -fixed casting in askchain
                (pickup.c)
        -monsters can resist !oPoly
                (potion.c)
        -added a declare for god_gives_pet
                (pray.c)
        -added fcn declare for read_grave
        -made epitaph a const char
                (read.c)
        -made variable fd in dosave ifdef KEEP_SAVE
                (save.c)
        -removed unused variables
        -added correct casting for various variables, arguments
                (shk.c)
        -removed unused vars cl, buf
                (shknam.c)
        -added declares
        -removed unused variables
                (spell.c)
        -added declare for write_timer
                (timeout.c)
        -made *fmt static const char from static char
                (topten.c)
        -added fcn typedefs
        -fixed martial_dmg - doesn't need params
        -added ifdef SHOW_DMG to polymorphed player attacks
        -fixed monster damage taken twice.
                (uhitm.c)
        -fixed casting for null argument of view_from
                (vision.c)
        -added some typedefs
        -fixed "no ammunition" message
        -rearranged readyweapon to catch null wep first
                (wield.c)
        -removed unnecessary variable buf
        -replaced long string of if comparison with strchr with 
                (u_init.c)
        -bracketing, static fcn declare
        -removed unused variable int i in zapping fcns
        -explosions now show monster dmg
        -survive disintegration/death zaps if invulnerable
                (zap.c)
        -removed unused variable (char buf)
                (wintty.c)
        -fixed prototypes
                (unixmain.c)
        -added prototypes
                (unixunix.c)
        -removed unused variable
                (makedefs.c)
        -added SHOW_WEIGHT option
                (flag.h, options.c, objnam.c)
-should have fixed the problem with encumber messages appearing at the
        beginning.  (attrib.c) Tough nut to crack - one of the things that
        only appears every now and then,  and you can't tell that it's
        broken until it appears again.  Pink Elephant.
-added grave, toilet symbol positions to dungeon option definition
        (guideboo.txt, guideboo.mn, guideboo.tex, nethack.cnf)
-monsters using unicorn horn message fixed.  Is now
        "xxx uses a unicorn horn"  rather than "xxx uses a unicorn horns"
        (muse.c)
-you will at least throw one of an object when you throw.  Unskilled
        used to be completely unable to throw objects.
        (dothrow.c)
-gas spores no longer explode as wands (as food;B) (mon.c)
-fixed damage sustained in retributive strike ('a'pplying
        wands) and double damage in explosions. (explode.c)
-armor falling off will no longer disappear (polyself.c)
-fixed config file not detecting system properly (file.h)
-added more tiles courtesy of Dirk!
        -monadic deva, astral deva, Planetar, Solar, storm giant,
        ghast, bar-igura, chasme, babau, nabassu, gila monster,
        basilisk, komodo dragon, High Lycanthrope have tiles!!
        (monsters.txt)

ver 0.0.3E4 [Mar 31/1998]
-fixed the god giving gift (spellbook/sword) messages. (pray.c)
-Tsanth code patches:
        -dimasber now exercises twohanded sword skill (weapon.c)
        -dimsaber now acts as a +4 weapon (uhitm.c, mhitm.c)
        -dimsaber now burns engravings (engrave.c)
-'D' or 'L' no longer destroy armor when taking it off  - the message said
        the 'D' or 'L' took off the armor quickly,  but the code
        destroyed it ;B (polyself.c)
-the duration for 'L' and 'B' is quite reduced at higher levels (used to be
        30+ turns long at high levels!).  Increased length of 'E' and 'S'
        specials slightly
        (cmd.c)
-Doomblade,  Staff of Withering are now aligned to starting 'L' base.
        (artifact.c)
-"MU GETSU NO RAIGUMI!", Shermie from King of Fighters '97,  is
        now the lightning yell.
-"RUPUSHI KAMUI EMUSHI-TOITOI!", Rimururu from Samurai Shodown is now
        the cone of cold yell.  Hope I got it right ;B (zap.c)
-Gauntlets of Power no longer make you weaker if you had base 19+ strength
        (attrib.c)
-acid worms are now stone resistant,  and confer stone resistance. (monst.c)
-proper removal of wielded secondary weapons/quiver when you eat,  it rots
        away,  etc. (dig.c, eat.c, steal.c,  trap.c)
-you can also multithrow daggers now when skilled or up (dothrow.c)
-fixed bug where dropping some but not all of a wielded item (in quiver
        or secondary weapon)  unwielded it. (do.c)
-updated the dedication (Pillars of Strength) in this document
-fixed the filename for the guidebook.  Is now guideboo.txt for
        msdos (problem accessing from menu)  (global.h)
-fixed wrong message appearing when Envoy of Balance and receiving objects
        (pray.c)
-changed the elven damage during special use is +1 if using normal arrows
        +2 if using elven (uhitm.c)
-monsters casting lightning strike now call lightning strike special fx code
        (mcastu.c)
-[xx pts.]  damage display does not show up for explosions if
        option is not set anymore. (explode.c)
-Valkyries can now go to Expert with Matter spells (u_init.c)
-slashem website can now be reached at http://slashem.home.ml.org
-fixed bug that caused a crash when firing arrows and running
        out of ammo ;B (dothrow.c)
-strength adjustment really is quiet now ;B (u_init.c)
-removed leftover debugging code that was putting "6" at the
        beginning of message history. (dungeon.c)
-New STORM capability for lightning, fireball, and cone of cold
        If you are skilled, or have the respective resistance,  or are
        of the class type V, F or I respectively,  if you Zap the spell
        at yourself (hit '.')  you cast the "storm" variant of the spell.
        Pretty much, instead of a beam,  you get a whole bunch of explosions
        in the area around you.
        (zap.c)
-when "unpolymorph", you have 1/2 full hp (polyself.c)
-fixed bug that made gold show up only when showscore is on
        (botl.c)

ver 0.0.3E3 [Mar 04/1998]
-Acknowledgements added.  Let me know if I spelled your name wrong,
        or I forgot someone ;B  To all those people who bothered
        to tell me SLASH'EM is broken.  <g>
-Linux support is officially included! Go to the sys/unix and follow
        directions in there for setting up for Unix.  Don't forget
        to uncomment the right unix type in unixconf.h (namely LINUX,
        although other Unices should be fine too...)  I don't
        personally have any way of verifying whether this works,
        but I hear that it should be fine ;B  (whole bunch of directories)
        Also includes Qt and X windows support.
-fixed problem where not wearing gloves when hitting monsters caused a page
        fault.  I'm learning a bit late to be careful with NULL pointers...
        (uhitm.c)
-fixed problem causing bigroom from not being created properly (dungeon.def)
-Undead Slayers starting with 2 wooden stakes bug corrected (u_init.c)
-Elves have a new special ability - they do +2 damage on arrows and
        shoot 2 extra arrows for 1-3 turns. (elven equip.)
        or 1 extra shot if non elven bow and arrows.
        Replaces weapon practice. (dothrow.c, cmd.c, uhitm.c)
-added spoon handling code just in case monsters decide to
        throw it (mthrowu.c)
-monsters will now use dark elven arrows, short swords and bows
        silver dagger given more priority (was after rocks!)
        (weapon.c)
-monster elves, samurais get multiple shots with their special weapons
        elven bows and arrow, yumi and ya. Monsters using elven equip
        get extra shots as per players (mthrowu.c)
-fixed bug that kept monsters from shooting ya (bamboo arrows)
-fixed bug that crashed shopkeepers' menus if you hit 'esc' to quit them
        (shk.c)
-reworked the throwing code.  Added multiple bow/weapon throws for
        anyone with more than basic skill.  You throw an extra
        object for every level above basic,  and another extra one
        if you're a samurai using yumi and ya or an elf with elven
        bow and arrow.  Extra throws for using elven equip (dothrow.c)
-fixed bug where dropping secondary weapon when polymorphing caused a crash
-redid the hallucination objects code (objnam.c) to be more reasonable
-added Tsanth's modifications:
        Perseus' Silver Wallet:  Artifact super BoH
                4x wt cursed
                /3 wt normal
                /6 wt blessed
              with rudimentary tile 
        the dimsaber - neutral lightsaber
                new tiles for dark, light and dimsaber
        the spoon - FF2 thrown weapon that does 9999 dmg (with tile)
        wizard mode AC gain, invulnerability
        Exact modifications are in slamfaq.txt

-added Tsanth's petname code.  Now you can specify the name of your first
        badger, bat, ghoul....
       (opthelp, opthelp.des, decl.h, decl.c, dog.c, files.c, options.c
       guideboo.tex, guideboo.mn, guideboo.txt)
-fixed a bug I caused by commenting stuff out in mkobj.c that was
        creating double corpses.  And I thought I was being smart ;B


ver 0.0.3E2 [Feb 21/1998]
-redid and updated the menusystem (cmd.c)
-fixed silly bug in hmon() (uhitm.c)  that caused DPMI crashes under DOS DPMI
-skillled spellcasters can cast spells without enough power by suffering
        hp loss.  This will abuse wisdom if you're not Expert level (spell.c)
-updated the docs (guideboo.mn, guideboo.tex, hh, cmdhelp, help)
        with the new '`' and '*' commands
-hitting esc in a submenu brings you back a menu
        (func_tab.h, cmd.c)
-bug fixes:
        -fixed damage showing up during kicks even if showdmg isn't on
                (dokick.c)
        -fixed polymorphing into new man not updating vision (polyself.c)
        -fixed dmg display for kicking (dokick.c)
        -got rid of the "musical notes" in command help.
                cmdhelp needs to be flip -u (unix style end of line rather
                        than DOS style carriage returns and linefeeds)
        -fixed problems with boulders,  hallucination is better (objnam.c)
        -fixed Monks dmg going down to 10 pts at reaching grand master of
                martal arts before exp level 16 (uhitm.c)
-made patch file using diff -c -r -N.  All future source code releases will
        probably be in this format.

ver 0.0.3E1 [Feb 16/1998]
-there is a "more" at the end of the firing of a beam weapon to let you enjoy
        the effects ;B (and take in the damage)
        (zap.c)
-adding menu system accessible by the ~ or ` key
        (cmd.c, func_tab.h)
-the weapon selection screen removes swapwep and quivered weapons from
        wield list,  like the primary weapon is normally removed
        (invent.c)
-adding Angband style inventory done by "body part"
        Currently an elaborate hack ;B
        (cmd.c, invent.c, do_wear.c)
-the FPU coprocessor emulator is now linked into the executable.
        -added -lemu to the linker flags
        -should now allow 486sx and lower machines to handle things properly        
        (makefile.gcc)
-enchanted gloves +ses (and -ses) add to barehanded combat damage
-added alternate spellings to pick-axe - pickaxe and pickax
        the right way to spell it IMHO ;B
        (objnam.c)
-enchant armour catches negative enchantments as per positive enchants
        for those silly people who try to enchant beyond -127.  Now paralels
        the +ve case.
        (read.c)
-Since everyone should be in the credits,  I've shortened the
        intro screen and and modified the copyright banners
        (wintty.c, patchlev.h)                
-added Nathan La to the credits.  Reordered the credits properly so that
        SLASH'EM came after SLASH (silly boo-boo)
        (guideboo.mn, guideboo.tex, guideboo.txt)
-mall level now has at least one guaranteed (random) shop.
        (mall-1.des, mall-2.des)
-bug fix:  if polymorphed into a form that hates silver or a lycanthrope,
        "silver sears your flesh" and dmg bonus done properly (mhitu.c)
        [used to be only class 'L' players were checked,  and only for
        lycanthrope.  Now follows hates_silver and lycanthrope check]
-breaking wand of death will create a "sphere of death" rather than
        disintegration field (explode.c)
-Fixed the stat.h reference in files.c - should fix a Linux bug
-replaced nethack references/e-mail in junk mail with my e-mail
        and SLASH'EM ver number (mail.c)
-wishing now accepts abbreviations (BoH == Bag of Holding)
        (objnam.c)
-minor update to text documentation (guideboo.txt, slashem.txt)
-hit messages for monsters using beam weapons fixed e.g. yellow dragon
        acid breath (zap.c)
-monks can start with a spellbook of protection rather than force bolt
        (u_init.c)
-generic direction prompt has a list of possible directions, to match
        the digging prompt. (cmd.c)
-fixed the score display on the bottom line. Score should now show up
        only once, and only if showscore is TRUE in the config
-fixed the Xp display.  the showexp option is now active again
-the [xx dmg] and (xx dmg) are now activated by the showdmg config option
        (hack.c, uhitm.c, mhitu.c, options.c, flag.h, makedefs.c, config.h
        guideboo.tex, guideboo.mn, guideboo.txt)

ver 0.0.3E0 [Jan 30 1998]
-Added new names for various Doppelganger levels
        -Copier x3, Shifter x2, Changer x2,  Adept Changer, Master Changer
        -now Copier, Duplicator, Modifier, Shifter, Clone, Reshaper,
         Manipulator, Adept Changer, Master/Mistress of Forms
         (botl.c)
-Monsters have more (default) inventory (makemon.c)
        -Hobbits (monster) with slings also have rocks to throw now ;B 
                -have a chance of wearing leather armour if not
                        wearing elven mithril
        -Ogres get clubs if they don't have axes
        -All orcs have at least an orcish dagger
        -Mordor Orcs get 1:3 chance of getting orcish spears
        -Goblins get orcish shortsword 1:3
        -Hobgoblins get either morning star 1:3 or 1:3 orcish short sword
        -kobolds get javelins 1:4 or darts, short sword 1:4 or dagger
        -mind flayers get robes 1:2
        -master mind flayers get robes of protection 1:10, robes of power
                1:10 or else robes 
-you get the [xx pts.] damage report from all calls to losehp()
        eg thrown weapon damage
        (hack.c)
-if invisible and teleported into a shop,  you are allowed to leave
        (shk.c)
-when polymorphing - "feel like a new elf/man/woman"  now added gnomes
        -as well, gnomes polymorphing into gnomes become new gnomes
        (polyself.c)
-Reworked the monk attack code again. (uhitm.c)
        -Bug fix:  Monks should now gain experience in martial arts
        -All martial arts users get extra damage,  Monks can just
                do more damage (eventually)
     Martial Arts and:
        Monk and Grand Master   6d4
        Grand Master            5d4
        Master                  4d4
        etc....
        Basic                   1d4
-Undead Slayer inventory changed (u_init.c)
        -now starts with wooden stakes
        -matched with whip +2 or silver spear [Castlevania] 25%/25%
                or crossbow [Buffy] 50%
        -silver daggers or crossbow bolts
        -helmet or low boots +1
        -chain mail or leather jacket +1
-reworked kicking damage
        -includes bonuses due to +ses on boot
        -kicking boots,  rings of damage, +ses will do (some) damage
                against thickskinned animals (eg dragons)
        (dokick.c)        
-made bare handed combat and martial arts separate skills
        (you.h, weapon.c)
-wooden stakes now use the dagger weapon skill,  and are piercing weapons.
        -if you are an expert with the dagger or an undead slayer
                have a chance at plunging the stake into the heart of the
                vampire,  which will kill it instantly and vape the corpse
                (uhitm.c)
-Gnomes start with more equipment:
        -short sword, aklys, hammer
        -crossbow or sling w/ bolts or rocks
-Flame/Ice Mages, Necromancers start with +1 blessed quarterstaves,
        spellbook force bolt
        (u_init.c)
-pets will no longer eat own species unless starving.
        (dog.c)
-reworked the weapon swapping code
        -quiver,  secondary weapons init properly (u_init.c)
        -no weird inventory names when failing to swap to a 2-handed weapon
                from a single weapon and shield 
        (wield.c)
-DOS binaries now compiled using PGCC 1.0.1
-the tile files are now "absorbed" into NHDAT.  The files
        *.tib are redundant now ;B.
        (dlb.c, dlb.h, pctiles.c)
-bug fix:
        -FATAL BUG fixed: ball and chain on Water Level (Endgame) used
                to cause crashing (dungeon collapsing)
                Fixed. (mkmaze.c)
        -MAJOR bug:-The game used to crash if you hit esc, space in
               the spelluser's special ability menu. Fixed (spell.c)
                -spellusers' special abilities should no longer crash/
                        cause errors. (spell.c, cmd.c)
        -fixed healing spells showing up with a class "restore"
                in Zap menu.  now "healing" (spell.c)
        -bug fix: Shopkeeper will get mad at people escaping the shop
                even if unable to stop them from leaving or grabbing their
                backpacks
                (shk.c)
        -Wearing a wielded ring will take it out of your hand
                You used to be able to both wield and wear a ring
                (do_wear.c)
        -the "new strength" message has been disabled (u_init.c)
-Candle of Eternal Flame now has an eternal flame
        -fixed the "partly used" in description
        (artifact.c, apply.c)
-In the shopkeeper's menu,  'uncurse' is now spelled correctly (shk.c)
-noartifactwish (defined by default) now stops ALL artifact wishing
        -undefining noartifactwish will let you wish for limited
        artifacts (objnam.c)

ver 0.0.2E9 [Jan 17 1997]
-included CWSDPMI (for the pure DOS users)
-binaries now compiled with PGCC 1.0
        -NOTE to PGCC users:
                -To get this going, I had to stubedit the PGCC cc1.exe
                 to a stack size of 768k from 256k
                -The stack size of the the DJGPP cc1.exe is 768k
        -This binary is now Pentium optimized,  with an optimization
         level of O6 (for those of you who don't use PGCC,  that's
         the maximum optimization.  To compare, gcc was optimizing
         before at O2.  The original makefile optimized at O1)
         (makefile.gcc)
-Added Skill type headings in the skills list (weapon.c)
-wand beams will now clear when bouncing back,  so that you can see the
        bounce (zap.c)
-wands of lightning will always explode if used underwater,  except
        if the wand is blessed. (zap.c)
-cursed wands will blow up MUCH more frequently
        -explosion is done similar to breaking the wand
        (zap.c, apply.c)
-Sunsword,  Holy Spear of light are now a light source
        -slight bug - once created,  they are NEVER deleted (just hidden)
                -It's not really a problem, as you can't turn them off ;B
                -only minor thing is if there end up being a lot of artifact
                 lights,  this could become quite draining on resources for
                 slower comps.
        (artifact.c, mkobj.c, light.c)
-Toned down the monk.  He got to be a bit powerful at high levels.
        -His base damage is maxxed at level 16 (6d4 + 2) (uhitm.c)
        -max AC bonus of -11 (due to level) (do_wear.c)
-fixed makedefs -f to not use strlwr.  Changed some defines.(makedefs.c)
-weapons/objects with names that have "holy" in them can be wished for
        (mostly artifacts).  Holy no longer means blessed (objnam.c)
-old feature:  changed the name of some constants
        -weapon.c, you.h,  spell.c, u_init.c
-added explosion tiles/colored chars for lightning and death/disintegration
        (lightning is white, death is grey on tty nontile)
        (other.txt, explode.c, rm.h, drawing.c)
-Necromancers start with quarterstaff (u_init.c)
-redid the bouncing code so that bounzing 'zaps' don't go into walls.  Looks
        nicer ;B (zap.c)
-bug fix:
        -plugged up an object leak in studyspell (spell.c)
        -make spotless now deletes the filename.h (since it will be generated
                automatically by makedefs) (makefile)
        -problem with spellcasters starting with a blank spell read.(u_init.c)
        -explosions are properly clipped for walls/corridors (explode.c)
-Flame Mages,  Ice Mages, Necromancer get Wizard bonus for breaking wands
        -(damage /10)
        (explode.c)
-light sourcing for effects
        -light sourced zap, explosion for lightning and fire spells
        -light sourced camera flash
        -could be computer intensive, so I made it a compile-time option
                -#define LIGHT_SRC_SPELL in config.h
        -this had better work...tough to implement!
                -I had to add another light source type - LS_TEMP
        -BTW, I went to the elemental plane of fire and stressed tested the
                light sourcing code.  Thing still flies on the Pentium.  I
                do have to note that the "on-the-fly" light sourcing is
                very neat.  Kudos to the person who did the vision system ;B
        (vision.c, zap.c, explode.c, config.h, vision.h, display.c)
-executables now compressed with DJP  - exe is a little less than half
 previous size! (makefile)
-when invoked from cmd line with -?, etc,  usage no longer includes .exe after
 game name
        -stubedit now supplies an argv0 w/o .exe
        argv0=$(GAME) [in (makefile)]
-when blind,  differentiates between nearby and distant zaps
        (muse.c)

ver 0.0.2E8 [Jan/07/1998]
-Flame/Ice Mages have weapon skills severely curtailed.
        -Flame Mages now use primarily small-medium blades
        -Ice mages use stabbing(piercing) weapons
        -neither have any more ability in bows, etc.
        (u_init.c)
-fireballs are now bolts rather than streams (spell.c)
-the FAQ has been updated with the NHPlus changes.  It should now cover
        nearly all the changes due to SLASH (and its predecessor NHPLus)
        and Wizard patch. (slamfaq.txt)
-increased lights/fire vortex to cast light at range 3,  fire elementals
        at range of 2. Since my computer just zips through SLASHEM,
        mail me if you encounter performance problems. (mondata.h)
-The vision tables are now defined.  Supposed Performance boost (I can't
        tell...This game always flew on this comp) (config.h)
-config file is now SLASHEM.cnf.
        -makedefs now constructs filename.h using -f which defines filenames
                -actual game name is in patchlev.h
        -affects the config file,  tile files
        (filename.h [new file in \include], file.h (new file in [\include],
        files.c, makedefs.c, patchlev.h)
-blessed scrolls of genocide now have menusystem.  access by typing '?'
        (read.c)
-added message for monsters clawing- now "claws you!" rather than just "hits!"
        (mhitu.c)
-bug squash: (mostly from reading old r.g.r.n news)
        -'a'pplying wand of fireball now has correct effect
                as well, applying a wand of fire or fireball does NOT
                identify the wand,  but does as if you wish to name it
                (apply.c)
        -genocided monsters wearing amulet of lifesaving but not
                visible no longer generate a message.
                (mon.c [lifesaved_monster])
        -rust monsters now work properly - will only attack nonmetal items
                or your main body.  (mhitu.c [hurtarmor])
        -elbereth engraving now repels monsters again.  If you don't want to
                use it, just remove the define elbereth/don't use it ;B
                (mon.c, monmove.c)
        -"pile of coins" message for evil food and "piece of food"  for evil
                food mixup fixed. (drawing.c)
        -handling of riders and disintegration (especially Death) improved
                -riders were absorbing disintegration blasts
                -Death was getting HP reduced to 1
                        -Death now gains HP as per original code
                (zap.c)
-F1 now invokes help (pckeys.c)
-setup.bat now copies makefile.doc to the doc directory (setup.bat)
-optimized compiling now.  Compiler uses -O2 compiling rather than -O
        -Linker uses -s,  removing symbol tables
        -.exes are smaller,  supposedly faster.
        (makefile.gcc/makefile)
-failed stealing, most special abilities now take a turn (cmd.c)
-silver daggers are now piercing weapons ie. can now be thrown w/o
        penalty.  (objects.c)
-players start with spells in spellbooks memorized. (spell.c, u_init.c)
-players now start with secondary weapons wielded,  ammunition in
        quiver (u_init.c)
-pressing ^P twice consecutively will bring up message history
        tty port only.
        (topl.c)
-the shell was accidentally commented out (PC ports)
        Can now shell out to commmand.com, etc.
        (pcconf.h)
-executable is now slashem.exe,  with a corresponding
        slashem.txt based off nethack.txt,command line help, etc.
        (makefile.doc, slashem.6, makefile, pcmain.c)
-can access guidebook from help menu (pager.c, global.h)
-monsters can now use wand of fireball (zap.c, muse.c)
-makefile now moves the readme to the game dir (makefile)

ver 0.0.2E7 [Dec/20/1997]
-added history of SLASH'EM and predecessors
        -SLASH, Wizard, Nethack Plus, Nethack--(history, guidebook.mn)
-begun updating documentation
        -added keyboard commands (M-b, M-e, M-k, M-q, M-y, Q, x, f)
                -synchronized with help files 
        -Options (keep_savefile, save_prompt)
        -Character bios for the slash classes
        -added more info on #enhance (weapon+spells)
        -weapon swapping, quiver/fire
        (guidebook.mn,  guidebook.tex,  help, cmdhelp, hh, msdoshlp.txt) 
-Added makefiles for the documentation. Note that to compile the .txt docs
        you either need GNU Groff (DJGPP has a port) or nroff and col
        (makefile.doc)
-discovered that makefiles require real tabs, and EDIT doesn't do tabs.
        Looks like a job for NOTEPAD ;B 
-version display registers borg,  invisible objects, keep_save and
        noartifactwish compile-time options (makedefs.c)
-changed the prompt in monster special power to "You aren't a monster"
        rather than "you don't have a special ability"  since SLASH
        characters have special class effects.(cmd.c)
-keep savefile compile time option
        -grouped under #define KEEP_SAVE (config.h)
                comment out to compile without this option.
        -keep_savefiles [FALSE]
                This is a bit controversial,  but it defaults to FALSE and
                purists will play it that way,  for the true challenge.
                (files.c, options.c, flag.h, opthelp)
        -save_prompt [FALSE]
                Only useful with above defined TRUE.  Prompts for quit after
                save. (save.c, options.c, flag.h, opthelp)
                NOTE:  This is experimental,  so I wouldn't mind feedback
                on whether it works.  Mail me! (wac@intergate.bc.ca)
-Changed some skills for Undead Slayer class (u_init.c)
        -made spear skill Expert rather than Skilled
              Slayer artifact is a spear,  after all
        -made dagger skill expert too,  since it's a starting weapon
        -made crossbow skill Expert - Dracula movies
        -changed bare handed basic to martial arts master
                - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
        -Added whip Expert - Castlevania
        -made club, flail, mace, morning star, hammer, quarterstaff Skilled
                from Expert to balance
        -removed Trident skill - from Skilled to Restricted
        -removed Lance skill - from Basic to Restricted
-fixed the offsets for #enhance skills screen (added missing brackets).
        #enhance screen should be now properly aligned even when there
        are some skills available to advance. (weapon.c)
-fixed the engulfing colors (my mistake..i turned some of them blue)
        (other.txt)
-when summoning undead,  people who know how to command undead will
        automatically cast that as well. (read.c)
-'E','U','V' special ability also practices the with weapon. Increased
        the delay between uses as balance. (cmd.c, weapon.c)
-'A' now has the identification ability. (the old spellcaster special
        ability). He recognises objects from past research.  (cmd.c)
-'N','F','I' and 'W' special ability is now study spells.  Saves wear
        and tear on those spellbooks. (cmd.c)
-bug fixes for 'Slashing ability'
        - you can't extend claws when 'L' and polymorphed.  Think of it
        as needing your "human" bone structure. (cmd.c)
        -retract claws when swapping to a weapon. (wield.c)
        -message is now "fingernails extending to claws"
                Thanks Ben Newall (ben@eki.com) (cmd.c)
-In #enhance skills menu - will keep calling the menu if you can enhance
        more than one skill. Saw a comment at the top and implemented it.
        (weapon.c)
-Added "yell"  preceding successful megafireball cast.  "Kamehameha" for
        magic missile,  "Shinkuu Hadouken" for fireball and
        "Gessho Suityaha" for cone of cold. (Now, where could these
        have come from.  Haven't been playing SF vs Xmen/Samurai Shodown ;B )
        (zap.c) Actually, I wouldn't mind more
        appropriate "yells" (esp for cone of cold). Feel free to submit.
-In Wizard MODE: can now advance skills without practice.  For debugging
        the fireballs (Yeah right ;B) #enhance will now prompt for whether
        you want to advance skills without practice. (weapon.c)

ver 0.0.2E6 [Dec/09/97]
-fixed the wand of fireball zapping green.  It should now be a more "normal"
        red. (zap.c)
-Added a magenta magical explosion.  Note that the cold explosion,  magical
        explosions are also visible as different colored ASCII characters
        for those of you who use colored IBM char set.  If you use b&w,
        this won't change much. (explode.c,  rm.h, drawing.c)
-fixed some silly glyph things: whenever a shield glpyh/tile came on
        during an explosion,  Nethack would replace it with a normal
        explosion glyph - even if it was a cold explosion.  (explode.c)
-Added Mega Magic Missile/Fireball/Cone of cold:
                For those who complain that spells
        just aren't powerful enough,  here's the spells for you.  When
        a wizard is skilled in matter spells, he will no longer cast
        wimpy wandlike bolts of fire/cold/magic missiles.  
        He will fire a blast 3 times as large and 3x as strong.
        These are powerful spells - do not play with these!
        --As a technical note, what I've done is taken a standard
                fire/cold bolt/magmissile and caused it to explode
                every step of the way...
        (spell.c, zap.c, explode.c)
        As a matter of note,  I hope to add "enhanced" versions of all the
        spells,  but I wouldn't mind any suggestions.
        I'll probably put the old super fireball/cones in as spells.
-fixed the explosions...I had accidentally replaced the normal fire
        explosions with the cold explosion tiles. (other.txt)
-'L' now has a new special ability - slash!  Based loosely off Wolverine's
        Berserker Barrage (arcade ;B),  you have to be empty handed to use.
        When you attack your next enemy,  you will go into a similar state
        as when you go berserk,  except the enemy can't hit you back.
        Note that you have to land a hit before the barrage starts,  and
        while you're attacking,  you can still be hit by other monsters.
        If you wield a weapon,  you will retract your claws.
        (timeout.c, uhitm.c, cmd.c, wield.c)
-Added timeout message for special abilities 'S', 'B', 'L' (timeout.c)
-Dirk Sch”nberger is proud to present you with another set of tiles!
        (monsters.txt)

ver 0.0.2E5 [Nov/22/97]
-Added even more of Dirk Sch”nberger (shoenberger@signsoft.com)'s
        monster tiles!  The ghouls no longer look like ogres! As a
        bonus,  dotted the o in his name now!
        (monsters.txt)               
-Magic users' special class effect now calls the standard identify
        routines (cmd.c)
-undead can now resist Command Undead spell - message now for successful
        commanding (read.c)
-Necronomancers have a chance to command undead when summoning undead
        -spell + scroll (read.c)

ver 0.0.2E4 [Nov/15/97]
-Shopkeepers can now improve your tool-weapons (ie unicorn horns,
        pick-axes can be enchanted/rustproofed/poisoned) (shk.c, invent.c)
-Added Dirk Sch”nberger (shoenberger@signsoft.com)'s new monster tiles!
        LOTS and LOTS of additions - Thanks Dirk!! (monster.txt)
-Added poison blast [attack], acid stream spells [matter]
        (objects.txt, objects.c, spell.c, zap.c)
-Valkyries' special spell is now Lightning, rather than cone of cold
        (u_init.c)
-Master key of Thievery should not break off in locks anymore!
        (Side Note:  This ISN'T true of the Platinum Yendorian
        Express Card...) (lock.c)

ver 0.0.2E3 [Nov/08/1997]
-Added bolt of lightning spell/tile for spellbook (HI_PAPER spellbook)!
        (Side note - to prevent problems in recompile whenever new tiles
        or objects are added,  touch *.* in the src/ directory)
        (objects.c, spell.c, zap.c, objects.txt)
-'W'ear command now puts on amulets, rings and blindfolds.
-Once you are "skilled" in a certain spell class, all effects paralleling
        scrolls act the same as blessed scrolls (all spells, rather than
        just remove curse) (spell.c)
-healing spell class bonus applied to the general healing spell class
        rather than specific spells
-Fixed credits again!  Added Warwick Allison (warwick@cs.uq.edu.au)
        (readme.txt - this file!, wintty.c)
-Changed version number to fit Nethack scheme (patchlev.h)
-fixed keys in dos help file  - added/fixed alt keys for quit,
        skills, class effects(msdoshlp.txt) (you may need to delete nhdat
        to force a recompile of the help file)

ver 0.22 [Nov/05/1997]
-made menu accelerators for character class, alignment and gender lowercase (wintty.c, u_init.c)
-added menu for Shopkeepers for other services (shk.c)
-Necromancers are now Chaotic - raising the dead isn't exactly "neutral" (u_init.c)
-Necromancers now have force bolt rather than turn undead. (u_init.c)
-fixed a bug in the new menus - forgot to dismiss the windows. (u_init.c, wintty.c)

ver 0.21 [Nov/04/1997]
-Added tiles for cone of cold explosion. (drawing.c, other.txt, rm.h, explode.c)
-Knights are given Alignment Lawful.  used to be Neutral?? (u_init.c)
-Figured out how the menus work!  Now you get a nice menu for choosing
        character class (wintty.c), gender and alignment (u_init.c).
-Added initial spell skills for Flame, Ice Mage,  Monk and Necronomancer
        (weapon.c)

ver 0.2 [Nov/02/1997]
-Added and Revised spell skills for all the classes - skills should now
        make sense.   (u_init.c)
-Added spell skills for Caveman - stupid omission (u_init.c)
-reorganised spells - hopefully the organisation is more understandable
        (spell.c)
-"fixed" offsets for "Z"ap columns - do they look right? (spell.c)
-fixed the credits.  The e-mail for bug reports is now corrected on the
        main screen (wintty.c)

ver 0.1 [Nov/01/1997]
-Just released!
-As far as I know,  I've pretty much implemented all the features of 
the Wizard patch onto Slash E8 (except for the decreased power regeneration)
-Changed files (from SLASH E8):
        extern.h, spell.h, you.h, allmain.c, apply.c, attrib.c , do_wear.c,
        dokick.c, objects.c, pray.c, spell.c, u_init.c, uhitm.c, weapon.c,
        zap.c

+---------------------+
|Section 2.0 Storytime|
+---------------------+

The tale of Nethack and I really doesn't go too far back.  I remember
downloading an old version of Nethack off some BBS way back in my early
high school years.  Played it a couple times,  was wiped out really fast
most of the time.  Made it to the Gnomish mines.  Must have been 3.1.3.
Ran into Alphaman and a couple other roguelikes.  Got deleted sometime.

Early in Grade 11,  I was poking around and I stumbled upon BW's (no,
I'm not going to spell it wrong ;B) Nethack pages.  Found 3.2.2,  and
played it for a while.  Good fun,  and the tiles let me know at a glance
I was pounding away at,  but I was playing around with QuakeC,  so I
figured I may as well put my little install of DJGPP to good use.
Downloaded the sources,  figured out how to fix the DOS makefile.  Made
one change,  got bored,  and it got lost the next time my HD needed
pruning.

Sometime at the beginning of 1997 (my graduating year),  I ran into
Nethack again.  BW's page was still standing,  and I got the game and
the source.  Ran amok a couple links,  and came across Darren Hebden's
Roguelike News page.  Was reading some news items,  and thought to
myself

"Hey!  How come it's all this Angband stuff?   I can't even stand
playing Angband for more than 30 seconds. (Must have been that runin
with the room filled with lice).  Where's the Nethack mods?"

So with a little poking around,  I came across SLASH V6 4.1.2E8 and the
Wizard Patch.  They both looked neat.  I wanted both.

Correction.  I wanted both,  AND I wanted myself on the news page.
Phew!  Finally got that off my conscience.  Yes,  this labour of love
was also spurred by an odd initial self-centered desire to get some
fame.

So I made SLASH'EM.  Actually,  I tried patching the Wizard Patch onto
the SLASH ported to Nethack 3.2.2 source.  Failure.  Sources were too
different.  About a hundred incompatible chunks.  Gave up,  and put it
away.  Then,  one strange night,  I was REALLY BORED.  So I did the
patch by hand.  By the end of it,  I was almost 100% sure it would
explode.

I had to fix a couple typos.  It compiled.  It ran.  SLASH'EM was born.
This was probably where SLASH'EM probably would have died.  With an
incredible dash of luck,  it all somehow worked.  Despite the fact the
two weren't designed to mix.  Despite the fact that I'd never done C
programming before.

Yes.  Nethack was actually my pounding block for learning the C programming
language.  Scary,  neh?  I learned a lot.  Not much terminology - but it's
come to the point that most things work all right.  New features
actually being implemented.  For those wondering, before Nethack and real C,
I did BASIC programming (various versions)  and some QuakeC.  

Not too long after,  I was actually adding features.  Original
stuff.  Spur of the moment additions.  Bug fixes.

Sometimes,  things were touch and go.  There was the time I was trying to
add light sourced spells.  That was supposed to be a couple hours.
I broke the entire zap code.  But the thing is - if I'm halfway in,  I'll
generally finish the job.  Just because it would be a waste of my time if
I gave up.

Then,  somewhere along the way,  other people actually played it.  I
started getting bug reports.  People actually saying good things.  People
telling me every other version that yes - the boulder bug is back ;B

Actually,  if it hadn't been for the fact I'd get a message every week
or so from someone different telling me about some bug,  thanking me for
making the game,  this probably would have died eons ago.  The SLASH'EM
page gets tons more hits than my actual personal webpage ;B

It taught me C programming.  It taught me that there is actually a
community of people out there who are awfully nice,  even though half a
dozen posts a week to their message board concern computer hacking.

I'm now a 2nd year university student at the University of British
Columbia.  Looks like I'm going to do an Honours in Microbiology -
Immunology Option.  Haven't ever taken a computer course yet,  although
I plan on doing the 1st year Compsci courses this summer.  I play
SLASH'EM in the time I should probably be studying and doing homework.
I've never gotten to Medusa,  let alone ascended,  without using Wizard
mode.

Anyhow,  this ended up awfully longwinded and probably very boring.  But
hopefully,  this'll encourage anybody with their little Nethack dream to
never stop suggesting their ideas,  or going out and making their
patch.  It could happen.

Plus,  now you know why every other SLASH'EM version crashes terribly :B

Happy Hacking!
