WILDERLAND
A Hobbit Environment
(c) 2012-2019 by CH
(c) Copyright 2019-2023 Valerio Messina
wilderland AT aonDOTat
efa AT iol DOT it
- (0) Legal Info
- (1) Introduction
- (2) Game Versions
- (3) Installing WL
- (4) Obtaining The Game Files
- (5) Starting 'Wilderland'
- (6) Controlling 'Wilderland'
- (7) The Objects
- (8) References
WILDERLAND is (c) 2012 by CH, Copyright 2019-2023 Valerio Messina. You may use/modify it for private use; if you want to distribute a program based on WILDERLAND, please contact the authors at wilderland AT aonDOTat, efa AT iol DOT it
"The Hobbit" is (c) Melbourne House, 1982. Written by Veronika Megler and Philip Mitchell.
Simple DirectMedia Layer library (SDL 2.0) from www.libsdl.org (zlib license).
z80emu emulator based on Lin Ke-Fong free work (http://github.com/anotherlin/z80emu)
Z80 emulator based on Marat Fayzullin's work from 2007. Free for non-profit projects (http://fms.komkon.org).
8x8 charset from ZX Spectrum ROM (c) by Amstrad; use granted for emulators.
Makefiles for GCC and GNUtool-chain was written by Valerio Messina Makefile to cross-compile for Win32/64 and macOS64 written by Valerio Messina Porting to SDL2.0 was made by Valerio Messina (efa AT iol DOT it) Support for selectable Z80 emulator by Valerio Messina (efa AT iol DOT it)
YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DISTRIBUTE 'WILDERLAND' TOGETHER WITH HOBBIT BINARIES!
WILDERLAND (WL) allows you to see what's REALLY going on in this wonderful world created by Veronika Megler and Philip Mitchell in 1982 at Melbourne House. It runs the original game code in a rudimentary Spectrum emulator, while displaying the state of objects and animals, the current positions of the latter, and a log what all the other creatures (NPC) do while Bilbo is in one place.
According to an interview with Philip Mitchell [1] there have been two published versions of "The Hobbit": the initial realease (called V 1.1 for 'vanity' reasons) and a bug-fixed V 1.2, that are easy to identify through the authors' names in the loading screen. Both of these games are available for download on the 'World of Spectrum' web site [2], though they are referenced as V 1.0 and V 1.2 there. The main research object for the author of 'Wilderland' was his own tape version of the game transfered to PC sometimes in the 90ies. With the original tape long gone, it can't be reconstructed, which version this should have been. BUT IT IS CLEAR THAT IT IS NEITHER V 1.0 (1.1) NOR V 1.2. The code differs in a number of aspects from both. Some facts indicate that this so called 'Version OWN' was released between V 1.0 (1.1) and V 1.2, though this has to be researched more thoroughly at a later time.
The following game versions are supported in WL:
- V 1.0 (1.1)
- V OWN
- V 1.2
(3.1) - Windows
Just unzip all files to a directory. The package includes the source files and a compiled version of WL. There are also a number of support files (loading screen, high-res map, graphics DLL etc.) included.
WL was developed with 'Pelles C for Windows, V 6.50.8', Simple Direct Media Layer library (SDL 1.2) from www.libsdl.org (GNU licence) and a Z80 emulator based on Marat Fayzullin's work from 2007 (fms.komkon.org) under Windows XP.
(3.2) - Linux/macOS
In 2019 Valerio Messina (efa AT iol DOT it) from Italy ported WL to Linux. The files are available on the Wilderland homepage, too. A binary for macOS 64 bit is also available. The package includes source files and compiled versions:
- 'WL' Linux64 binary built with GCC 12.2.0 on Linux64
- 'WL32' Linux32 binary built with GCC 12.2.0 on Linux64
- 'WLmgw.exe' Win64 binary built with MinGW/MSYS2 [3] on Win64
- 'WLmgw32.exe' Win32 binary built with MinGW/MSYS2 [3] on Win64
- 'WLmxe.exe' Win64 binary cross-built with MXE.static [4] link on Linux64
- 'WLmxe32.exe' Win32 binary cross-built with MXE.static [4] link on Linux64
- 'WLpc.exe' Win32 binary built with Pelles C/LCC on Win32
- 'WLosx' macOS64 binary cross-built with OSXcross/CLang/LLVM [5] on Linux
- 'Wilderland2.10b.dmg' macOS64 standard package
- 'Wilderland2.10b_Linux_x86_64_64bit.AppImage' Linux64 portable package
Just unzip all files to a directory. On macOS the standard Wilderland.dmg file
can be installed opening it and dragging to Applications.
On Linux the portable package AppImage should be saved in a writable directory,
make it executable with: $ chmod +x Wilderland*.AppImage
The sources was ported to SDLv2.0, added the support for a free Z80 emulator: 'z80emu' by Lin Ke-Fong [6] now the default, and some improvements, see Changelog.txt
To build sources on Linux, install dependencies with:
$ sudo apt install build-essential libsdl2-image-dev libcurl4 libzip4
then just run make.
To buid @32bit on 64 bit Linux use make -f Makefile32, this require:
$ sudo apt install build-essential libsdl2-image-dev:i386 libcurl4:i386 libzip4:i386
On Windows you can build a native Win version using MinGW/MSYS2 [3]:
To build for Win64 on Win use: make -f MakefileG64
To build for Win32 on Win use: make -f MakefileG32
Makefiles for cross-compilation from Linux are also provided:
To build for Win64 on Linux use: make -f MakefileM64, require [4]
To build for Win32 on Linux use: make -f MakefileM32, require [4]
To build for macOS64 on Linux use:make -f MakefileO64, require [5]
On all builds, you can select the CPU emulator to be used with:
$ make CPUEMUL=ez80emu OR $ make # to use 'z80emu' emulator
$ make CPUEMUL=eZ80 # to use 'Z80' emulator
To create the distribution packages:
$ make rel # to generate the release package
$ WLpkg.sh PKG # to package the built files
# PKG can be LIN32,LIN64,MGW32,MGW64,MXE32,MXE64,OSX64
$ WLrel.sh # to generate the release packages for all target platforms
The actual game files (ZX Spectrum binaries) you need to run WL are NOT included in the WL download package for copyright reasons. Current Wilderland look for a local Hobbit binary, if cannot find it, will try to download from the web address configured in WLconfig.txt
Optionally you may get them from various abandonware websites like 'World of Spectrum' [2]. I hereby explicitly prohibit the distribution of 'Wilderland' together with the Hobbit binaries!
Step-by-Step-Instruction:
- (4.1) Go to http://www.worldofspectrum.org
- (4.2) Select 'Archive' - 'Text Adventures' - 'TOGGLE FILTER' - in Title type 'Hobbit' - select 'The Hobbit' Melbourne House 1982
- (4.3) Expand Files section, download: 'HobbitTheV1.2.tap.zip', 'HobbitTheV1.0.tap.zip', 'HobbitTheV1.2.tzx.zip' or 'HobbitTheV1.0.tzx.zip'
- (4.4) Unzip the downloaded file, put 'HOBBIT12.TAP', 'HOBBIT.TAP', 'The Hobbit v1.2.tzx' or 'The Hobbit v1.0.tzx' file into the Wilderland directory.
Optionally you can generate the binary file stripping the tape headers:
- (4.5) Unzip the 'HOBBIT12.TAP', 'HOBBIT.TAP', 'The Hobbit v1.2.tzx' or 'The Hobbit v1.0.tzx' file into the 'TapCon' directory.
- (4.6) Run 'TapCon' or 'TapCon.exe' to extract the game binaries.
- (4.7) Copy 'HOB_V12.bin' or 'HOB_V10.bin' to the WL directory.
Run WL from the command line with the following command:
WL [-V10|-OWN|-V12] [-FULLSCREEN|FIT|MAP] [-MAXSPEED] [-NOSCANLINES] [-SEEDRND]
WL [-HELP]
- '-V10', '-OWN' or '-V12' selects the game version (if binary is available) when no version is selected, Wilderland start with V12
- -FULLSCREEN runs the game in fullscreen mode (only recommended for screens with 1280 x 1024 pixel native resolution)
- -FIT runs the game in desktop resolution mode
- -MAP runs the game with map undocked and sized 1870x725 (for fullHD)
- -MAXSPEED runs the emulator with maximum speed (useful if you just want to see the NPCs roam around). Otherwise the Spectrum speed with an approximate 30 seconds wait cycle is emulated.
- -NOSCANLINES suppresses the TV-like scanlines in the game window (less authentic but better for the eye!).
- -SEEDRND. The game uses the Z80 processor's refresh register to generate random numbers. With this option this register is initialized to an arbitrary value to make game play more unpredictable.
The 'Wilderland' screen is divided into a number of different windows
with the following layout:
+--------+----------------+-----------+
| | | |
| | Game | |
| Log | Window | Attribute |
| Window | | Window |
| +----------------+ |
| | Command Window | |
+--------+----------------+-----------+
| |
| |
| Map Window |
| |
| |
+-------------------------------------+
- Log Window: shows what's going on in the 'background' of the game (e.g. what the NPC do in their respective rooms) [7].
- Game Window: this is an exact representation of the Spectrum's screen while the game is running.
- Command Window: this is Wilderland's command window. Help information is displayed within or filenames for load/save commands can be entered.
- Attribute Window: the state of all objects (and NPC [including you] which are also objects in the game's context) is displayed here. See section "(7) - The Objects" for a full reference.
- Map Window: the position of all the NPC is indicated in this game map (a high-res version for print-out can be found in the 'Design' directory of WL). Dead NPC have an additional '+' attached to their names.
When running WL you control two different environments:
- the game itself and
- the emulator.
!!! THE BASIC PRINCIPLE IS THE FOLLOWING: JUST TYPING GOES TO !!! !!! THE GAME, WHILE CAPS-SHIFTED LETTERS CONTROL THE EMULATOR. !!!
(6.1) - Game Control
- a-z ............... these letters appear in the game's input line
- . and , ........... full stop and comma are also used for input
- " ................. is used to talk to NPC in direct speech
- 0 and BACKSPACE ... are the single char DELETE keys for the game
- @ ................. is the 'do-the-last-command-again' key
The cursor keys can be used for walking like N,S,E,W, and Shift+0 for clearing the whole input line.
(6.2) - Environment Control
- H ... Help - A short overview of commands, abbreviations and object/NPC properties and attributes
- I ... Info - Legal infos on the software are displayed
- S ... Save - Saves the current state of the game in a .wls format. Valid characters are: a-z, 0-9, '.', '-' and '_'
- L ... Load - Loads a previous saved game WilderLandShapshot .wls file Filename editing is possible in SAVE and LOAD. If you mistyped, just press BACKSPACE, a '?' overwrite the wrong char then start again. Be sure to load only V10 games into WL if the emulator is running in V10-mode (the same applies to V12 of course). Snapshot files from different CPU emulators are incompatible too.
- G ... Go - Jump directly to a specific room. Enter number in hex and press enter (editing is possible). See the map in the \Design directory for a reference on room numbers. This 'beaming' transports you and the objects you are holding to the new room, so this is a CHEAT!
- Q ... Quit - Quits the emulator. If the console window stays on the screen, press another key to close it too.
The object database is (beside the room and dictionary database) one of the core items of the game. The following information is stored for each object:
* Object Number: the game's internal object reference number (NPCs are >= 60d).
* Name: the object's full name (a noun and a maximum of two adjectives).
* 1L (first location): most objects do only appear in one location, which is
referenced here as room number (see game map). Some objectes (eg. doors)
are visible from more than one room, in these cases only the first room is
indicated.
* # (number of): how many times the object appears in the game.
* MO (mother object): if an object is carried or enclosed within another object
this object is referenced by its object number (or 0xFF if this is not the
case).
* Vo (volume): the object's volume.
* Ma (mass): the object's mass.
* 04 (property with offset +04): currently unknown
* St (strength): the NPC/object's strength (eg. used in fighting)
* 06 (property with offset +06): currently unknown
Attributes, each object has 8 binary attributes associated with it:
* v: visible
* A: animal (otherwise it is an object)
* o: open (otherwise it is closed)
* *: gives light
* b: broken (or dead for NPC)
* f: full
* F: it is a fluid (water, wine)
* l: locked
- [1] https://www.otherminds.net/downloads/other-hands/other-hands-issue-18.pdf/ @@download/file/Other%20Hands%20Issue%20#18.pdf (page 5-6) http://www.avventuretestuali.com/interviste/megler-eng
- [2] http://www.worldofspectrum.org
- [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingw-w64 https://www.mingw-w64.org/ https://www.msys2.org/
- [4] https://mxe.cc/ https://github.com/mxe/mxe
- [5] https://github.com/tpoechtrager/osxcross https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clang
- [6] https://github.com/anotherlin/z80emu
- [7] I haven't found out yet, where the spaces go missing... ;-) but you can G-o where the space misses
README.txt Version 2.10b - 20231203