Welcome to BD4

This file is pretty plain and brief. A simple description of the game follows the links (which are conveniently placed near the top). Refer to the BD4 Home Page for full details. For any comments, feedback, questions, etc email wil@amristar.com.au.

Useful Links

BD4 Home Page
Create new player - Comprehensive player creation (better than in-game).
Download - Download latest version.
Players page - Links to player profiles and player information.
Highscores page - Summaries for offline play, searching, hall of fame, etc.
Rankings - Player rankings based on high scores.
News - Recent news and announcements.
Hints - Hints, recorded games and challenges.
Help - Full FAQ/help/information.
Java version - Play a version of the game from within your web browser.

Game description

Here's a "ten lines or less" description that's been used in the past:

The game is called BD4. It is a version of Boulderdash which is played online
using central player records and global high scores.  Versions exist for
UNIX/X, Windows (Win32) and Java.  The game has over 100 levels and allows
teamwork mode. Offline play, level editor and new level sets now supported.
Over 1.5 million games played worldwide so far.
:
Refer to the web page for full documentation, a list of current players,
global high scores, news and information and much more.
http://bd4.amristar.com.au/

Getting started

To play BD4 you must either be connected to the internet or have obtained a ticket while connected to the internet. For help on these topics refer to the web pages.

1. Set your display to a high resolution (at least 1024 wide) if possible. This is not essential.

2. Ensure bd4.exe (for Windows) is in a directory along with the data directory. This should be done when you extract the archive. For the BeOS use bd4.BeOS rather than bd4.exe. For all UNIX versions use "bd4".

3. Double click or start the program (bd4.exe for Windows).

4. Follow the in-game help.

Note

The first level is pretty slow to get into (level 0). I may get the server to automatically put players on level 1 to make it more fun. Please be patient with level 0 - there is a solution which you can see by playing back the recorded game (rec/s00) as outlined below.

There is no sound for the Windows or Linux versions yet. I suggest a stereo and a sound source :)

You should (soon) be able to send in-game messages to other players from the web pages.

Enjoy the game!

In-game keys

Currently non-configurable the keys within the game follow:

Player 1: Arrow keys or vi keys (hjkl) and Enter to grab/grenade.
Player 2: Either (aztu) or (sdfe) and space to grab/grenade.
Pause: 'p'.
Finish level: Escape to restart, 'q' to quit (to menu or command prompt), page up/down or '-'/'=' to change levels.
High scores: 'h'.
Misc: 'y' changes high score mode, 'o' turns autopause on/off, '1'-'4' change the game smoothness/frame-rate, '9' can be used for low resolution modes. And 'g'/'v' to (g)o fast and (v)ery fast ('v': Linux only).
F-Keys: Note that all update when pressed.
- F1: Help.
- F2: Hide information bar (Linux only).
- F4: Information. Currently contains the number of gems on the screen (press F4 to repeat).
- F5: Player details (games played, etc).
- F6: Player score details.
- F8: Player ranking and level scores. Retrieved from server. This shows the player's ranking, their high score on this level and the high score they would get on this level (both currently and if they were to exit immediately). If the level is changed you will need to press F8 again to update these values. The example below shows the player ranked 12th who has the 11th highest score on the level being played (a score of 988 with time 12) who currently has a score which will not make it into the top 100 but is in a place such that if they exit immediately they will have 19th position.
```
RANK: 12TH. 8133 POINTS | LEVEL: 11TH 988:12 | CURRENT: NONE:19TH
```
- F9: Current level details (level set, level number and game mode).
- F10: Level name. Not yet available on all levels (including default BD4 levels).
- F11: Level author and release date.
- F12: High scores for this level. Mini-in game high scores obtained from the server on request. For example (below) the top score is 1273, the 5th score is 1029 and so on.
```
1ST1273|5.1029|10. 989|10. 909|30. 902|50. 893|75. 879|100. 867|
```

Basic description of files

This file is attached to the basic BD4 distribution. It currently contains the following:

File	Description
bd4.exe	Version 4.00+ of BD4 for Windows.
bin/bd4.Linux	Version 7.02 of BD4 for Linux, SunOS and Silicon Graphics (IRIX).
bd4	Common script for running UNIX versions.
data	General data.
rec	Some demo/help recorded games. To play these back under Windows click on the "second bottom button" from the main menu until it reads playback, then type in "rec\s00" followed by return to play back the example game for level 0. Other games include "rec\s04", "rec\s05" and "rec\s08". See web pages for more games.
autorec	This directory will automatically stored recorded games if you get a "high enough". "High enough" can be defined. See the readme file in this directory for more help.
tickets	A ticket is something that allows you to play offline. You get a ticket from the server, play offline and then check the ticket in. When you check a ticket in it will be moved into the tickets directory just in case something went wrong over the Internet or on the server. You should not need to look in here. The current ticket will be called "bd4.tik" and should appear in the main directory.

It does not contain (or support) these:

bd4.OSF1: Versions of BD4 for DEC alpha machine is available via an additional download. Mail wil@amristar.com.au to see if there's a new release on the horizon or for the current version (6.05).
bd4.BeOS: Similarly a version for BeOS (v0.03).
bd4.SunOS, bd4.IRIX: Similarly for other UNIX platforms.
Additional level sets. Consult home page or email Wil for more information here.
Level editor support. Suspended until next release.

Note: The BeOS, IRIX, SunOS and OSF1 versions can be downloaded from the download page online. You will still need the main distribution.

Changes in recent versions and distributions

Date	Version(s)	New features/reasons for upgrade
6th Januaru 2003	PC-4.04, X-7.04	Added F-Keys for in-game information, new level set (hard-chaos). Code restructured so Windows/PC version and Linux/UNIX versions use the same control and state code (not just the low level engine).
20th June 2002	PC-4.00	Lots has changed. We have a proper Windows setup program for installation. Also: Time accuracy updated, playing script or playing from web pages supported, new level format supported and many other things. This file hasn't really changed though!
9th August 2001	PC-3.01, X-7.02	Allows you to play recorded games (.bd4 files) by double clicking or via downloading from the web (mime type "application/bd4-rec" with application set to "/your/path/bd4 -p").
5th July 2001	PC-3.00, X-7.00	Talks to new server. Many changed. Base new version.

Changes on the cards (to be added soon)

An interface between the game and web pages for handling tickets (mainly for people behind firewalls).
Sound for versions with no sound!
... see web pages or mail requests.