resources/pod/manual.pod

=head1 CFPlus Manual

=head2 Features

=over 4

=item Fullscreen Map

CF+ can uses a fullscreen map, which greatly enhances how much of the
game world you can see.

=item Persistent Map Cache (Crossfire+ only)

CF+ can persistently cache all map data it received from the
server. This not only allows it to display an overview map, but also
ensures that once-explored areas will be available the next time you want
to explore more.

=item Hardware acceleration

Unlike most Crossfire clients, CF+ take advantage of OpenGL hardware
acceleration. Most modern graphics cards have difficulties with 2D
acceleration, while 3D graphics is accelerated well.

=item No arbitrary limits

Unlike other Crossfire clients, CF+ does not suffer from arbitrary
limits (like a fixed amount of face numbers). There are still limits, but
they are not arbitrarily low :)

=item High quality text rendering

Although surprising at first, high quality text rendering is a real
must have feature.  For this, CF+ leverages Παν語 (PanGo) to
offer real-world text output quality, so you can chat in 日本語,
ﺎﻠﻋﺮﺒﻳﺓ or most any other language.

=back

=head1 Usage

=head2 The Map

The map is always displayed in the background, behind all other windows and UI elements.

#TODO# middle-click scrolls
#
# keys:
#
# a apply
# keypad moves, kp_5 applies ranged attack to self

Starting to type enters the I<completion mode>. In that mode, you can type
abbreviations or commands and have them executed as soon as they match a
valid command. This is best explained by a few examples:

Typing B<climb> will display a list of commands with I<climb> in their
name, such as I<ready_skill climbing> and I<use_skill climbing>.

You can abbreviate commands by typing only the first character of every
word (or even characters within the word - the client will try to make
a good guess, as long as the characters are in order). For example,
typing I<iwor> will likely select I<invoke word of recall>, while I<ccfo>
will select I<cast create food>. Likewise, I<rscli> will likely select
I<ready_skill climbing> and I<usl> will give you I<use_skill levitation>.

You can enter space and other text as arguemnt to the command. For
example, C<cfoo waybread> will expand to C<cast create food waybread>.

=head2 The map overview

#TODO#

=head2 The Status area in the lower right corner

The area in the lower right corner displays the most interesting
stats while playing. The 4 gauges: Health, Mana/Spellpoints,
Grace and Food. The top of each gauge shows the current value
and the bottom value is the maximum value.

Going over each gauge with the mouse cursor will show a tooltip
with a detailed explanation of each stat.

Below the gauges there is a line that looks like this:

   Exp: ######## (lvl ####)

The former number are the experience points and the number in the parents
is the level of your character.
The level of the character depends on the experience points you have.
If the experience points reach a certain value your level rises or falls.
This depends on the experience table of the server you are currently playing on.

On the bottom there is a line:

   Rng: xxxxxxxxx

It tells you have you have in your range slot. The range slot is activated
if you "fire" (by pressing ctrl+direction key). For example there could be a spell
in your range slot or a weapon (like a bow) you will fire with.

=head2 The Floorbox

Right to the left of the status area there is the floorbox.
It displays what is on the tile your character stands on. If there are very many
items there will be a "More..." button which will open up the Inventory.

=head2 The I<Statistics>/I<Stats> window

#TODO#

=head1 FAQ

=over 4

=item The client is very sluggish and slow, what can I do about this?

Most likely, you don't have accelerated OpenGL support. Try to find a
newer driver, or a driver from your hardware vendor, that features OpenGL
support.

If this is not an option, the following Setup options reduce the load and
will likely make the client playable with software rendering (it will
still be slow, though):

=over 4

=item B<Video Mode> should be set as low as possible (e.g. 640x480)

=item Enable B<Fast & Ugly> mode

=item Disable B<Fog of War>

=item Increase B<Map Scale>

=back

=back

Revision:	1.4
Committed:	Tue Jul 4 23:23:32 2006 UTC (18 years ago) by root
Branch:	MAIN
Changes since 1.3:	+11 -4 lines
Log Message:	Get rid of cairo completely (yay!) and of ft2 factually (still need the library as it included pangofc), by introducing a custom pango opengl renderer. Text rendering now no longer requires the distinction between rgba and grayscale modes, requires much less texture space and memory, and is faster on accelerated hardware (and possibly with software rendering, too). All at the cost of only 1200 lines or so.
#	User	Rev	Content
1	root	1.2	=head1 CFPlus Manual
2	root	1.1
3			=head2 Features
4
5			=over 4
6
7			=item Fullscreen Map
8
9	root	1.4	CF+ can uses a fullscreen map, which greatly enhances how much of the
10	root	1.1	game world you can see.
11
12			=item Persistent Map Cache (Crossfire+ only)
13
14	root	1.4	CF+ can persistently cache all map data it received from the
15	root	1.1	server. This not only allows it to display an overview map, but also
16			ensures that once-explored areas will be available the next time you want
17			to explore more.
18
19			=item Hardware acceleration
20
21	root	1.4	Unlike most Crossfire clients, CF+ take advantage of OpenGL hardware
22	root	1.1	acceleration. Most modern graphics cards have difficulties with 2D
23			acceleration, while 3D graphics is accelerated well.
24
25			=item No arbitrary limits
26
27	root	1.4	Unlike other Crossfire clients, CF+ does not suffer from arbitrary
28	root	1.1	limits (like a fixed amount of face numbers). There are still limits, but
29			they are not arbitrarily low :)
30
31	root	1.4	=item High quality text rendering
32
33			Although surprising at first, high quality text rendering is a real
34			must have feature. For this, CF+ leverages Παν語 (PanGo) to
35			offer real-world text output quality, so you can chat in 日本語,
36			ﺎﻠﻋﺮﺒﻳﺓ or most any other language.
37
38	root	1.1	=back
39
40			=head1 Usage
41
42			=head2 The Map
43
44			The map is always displayed in the background, behind all other windows and UI elements.
45
46			#TODO# middle-click scrolls
47			#
48			# keys:
49			#
50			# a apply
51			# keypad moves, kp_5 applies ranged attack to self
52
53			Starting to type enters the I<completion mode>. In that mode, you can type
54			abbreviations or commands and have them executed as soon as they match a
55			valid command. This is best explained by a few examples:
56
57			Typing B<climb> will display a list of commands with I<climb> in their
58			name, such as I<ready_skill climbing> and I<use_skill climbing>.
59
60			You can abbreviate commands by typing only the first character of every
61			word (or even characters within the word - the client will try to make
62			a good guess, as long as the characters are in order). For example,
63			typing I<iwor> will likely select I<invoke word of recall>, while I<ccfo>
64			will select I<cast create food>. Likewise, I<rscli> will likely select
65			I<ready_skill climbing> and I<usl> will give you I<use_skill levitation>.
66
67			You can enter space and other text as arguemnt to the command. For
68			example, C<cfoo waybread> will expand to C<cast create food waybread>.
69
70			=head2 The map overview
71
72			#TODO#
73
74			=head2 The Status area in the lower right corner
75
76	elmex	1.3	The area in the lower right corner displays the most interesting
77			stats while playing. The 4 gauges: Health, Mana/Spellpoints,
78			Grace and Food. The top of each gauge shows the current value
79			and the bottom value is the maximum value.
80
81			Going over each gauge with the mouse cursor will show a tooltip
82			with a detailed explanation of each stat.
83
84			Below the gauges there is a line that looks like this:
85
86			Exp: ######## (lvl ####)
87
88			The former number are the experience points and the number in the parents
89			is the level of your character.
90			The level of the character depends on the experience points you have.
91			If the experience points reach a certain value your level rises or falls.
92			This depends on the experience table of the server you are currently playing on.
93
94			On the bottom there is a line:
95
96			Rng: xxxxxxxxx
97
98			It tells you have you have in your range slot. The range slot is activated
99			if you "fire" (by pressing ctrl+direction key). For example there could be a spell
100			in your range slot or a weapon (like a bow) you will fire with.
101
102			=head2 The Floorbox
103
104			Right to the left of the status area there is the floorbox.
105			It displays what is on the tile your character stands on. If there are very many
106			items there will be a "More..." button which will open up the Inventory.
107	root	1.1
108			=head2 The I<Statistics>/I<Stats> window
109
110			#TODO#
111
112			=head1 FAQ
113
114			=over 4
115
116			=item The client is very sluggish and slow, what can I do about this?
117
118			Most likely, you don't have accelerated OpenGL support. Try to find a
119			newer driver, or a driver from your hardware vendor, that features OpenGL
120			support.
121
122			If this is not an option, the following Setup options reduce the load and
123			will likely make the client playable with software rendering (it will
124			still be slow, though):
125
126			=over 4
127
128			=item B<Video Mode> should be set as low as possible (e.g. 640x480)
129
130			=item Enable B<Fast & Ugly> mode
131
132			=item Disable B<Fog of War>
133
134			=item Increase B<Map Scale>
135
136			=back
137
138			=back
139