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Welcome to the FAQ of Rocks'n'Diamonds. Here you will find the
answers to the most frequently asked
questions about Rocks'n'Diamonds. Some of these questions have been
asked by e-mail to Holger
Schemel, creator of RnD,
some others have been posted on the Official Forum of
Rocks'n'Diamonds.
Please address your questions about RnD to Holger Schemel, even if the best
chance to have your question answered in a short time is posting it on
the Official RnD Forum, so
that any user can see - and eventually answer to - your question.
Any comment or question about this documentation should be addressed to Francesco S. Carta (that would be me, the author of this writing), and not to Holger.
Since there is a specific forum
topic about this documentation you can post your comments
there, on the forum, showing your ideas and suggestions about these
writings to the whole community. You're welcome.
This FAQ is part of the Rocks'n'Diamonds
Documentation.
Here you will find several links
pointing to the documentation files ( User's
Manual - Elements Reference - Editor Tutorial ) for further details about
any given answer.
Snapping something means picking it up, collecting it, digging it,
or pushing it without moving the player. The action is done holding the
SNAP key and pressing one or more direction keys. The default SNAP key
is the left Control key (that is, the Control key on the left side of
the keyboard). The Control key could be labeled "Ctrl" or "CTRL" on
some keyboards. The SNAP key can be customized from the Setup Menu.
All the objects that can be collected or picked up (like gems and dynamite packs) can be
snapped.
All the objects that can be digged (like sand
and grass) can be
snap-digged.
Some objects can be snap-pushed. Among the standard elements of
Rocks'n'Diamonds, the BoulderDash-style
Rock is the only one that can
be snap-pushed.
The default key used to drop things is the right Control key (that is, the Control key on the right side of the keyboard). The Control key could be labeled "Ctrl" or "CTRL" on some keyboards. The DROP key can be customized from the Setup Menu.
There are two different types of dynamite because Emerald Mine and
BouderDash used different styles for placing them.
BoulderDash-style dynamite packs
(as
well as Dynabombs
and Supaplex
Red Disks 
) are placed
on
the map as soon as
you press the DROP key. You can move the player while holding the DROP
key: the player will drop a bomb for each step - assuming that you have
more than one of them in your inventory.
Quite differently, if you want to drop a pack of Emerald Mine-style
dynamite candles 
, you have to hold the DROP key for
a short time. Once
the dynamite has been placed, you can release the DROP key and move
away with the player. Notice that you can't drop these dynamite packs
in sequence one after another: you won't have the time to light up the
second pack because the first one will explode sooner, killing the
player.
By the way, placing different dynamite packs side by side means
wasting them. They are best used at 2 tiles of distance, as they
explode over a 3x3 area.
On the contrary, placing several Dynabombs side by side could be
handy and sometimes necessary - as in level nr. 40 of the Niko
Böhm's Tutorial Set.
Maybe you haven't really picked up the Dynabombs, but only their
"increase size" or "increase power" pickups.
This
is the Dynabomb pickup, which increases the number of bombs you can
drop at any time.
This is the "increase size of
explosion" pickup.
This is the "increase power of
explosion" pickup.
Read the Dynabombs' section
of the Elements Reference for further details.
There is another possible case: you are using the wrong key to drop
bombs. The default DROP key is the right Control key
(that is, the Control key on the right side of the keyboard). The
Control key could be labeled "Ctrl" or "CTRL" on some keyboards. The
DROP key can be customized from the Setup Menu.
"Gravity" is normally intended as the player's gravity.
When a level starts, the gravity could be present or not. When there
is gravity, the player falls down. If there is no gravity, the player
can freely move upwards without falling.
The gravity can be toggled on/off by passing through a Gravity Port.
There is a more detailed description of the Player's Gravity in the
section "The
Rocks'n'Diamonds' World", inside of the Elements
Reference.
Rocks'n'Diamonds allows recording the game progress with the tape
recorder.
While playing, you can quickly set a savepoint with the F1 key. To
restore the last savepoint, use the F2 key. These are the default keys,
which can be customized from the Setup Menu.
For a detailed explanation of the tape recorder interface, see the
manual's section "Tape
Interface Area".
See also "Where
can I find
my own tapes/savegames?"
If you are stuck in a level and you really can't figure out how to
solve it, you can proceed on different paths.
First of all, check out if that level has been released with a
solution tape. Here are the instructions to do so:
If you typed those keys correctly, you will see a new tape appearing
in
the Tape Recorder. If there is no solution tape for that level, you
will be warned by a "NO SOLUTION TAPE
FOR THIS LEVEL" message.
If you type those keys incorrectly nothing happens.
If the new solution tape appears in the Tape Recorder, then you can
press the PLAY button to see the solution.
Please notice that you will not see the ":ist" text appearing
anywhere, as it is a "blind command". By the way, "ist" stands for
"insert solution tape".
If the program tells you that there is no solution tape, then you
would
check it out manually. Instructions:
If the "tapes" folder contains some "xxx.tape" files (like
"001.tape", "002.tape" and so on), then the solution tapes are in
their right place, and you are mistyping the ":ist" blind command.
Please notice that the following folders:
Windows:
Personal Folder\levels\name-of-levelset\tapes
Unix:
Personal Folder/levels/name-of-levelset/tapes
contain the solution tapes (if any). They are quite different from
these folders:
Windows:
Personal Folder\tapes\name-of-levelset
Unix:
Personal Folder/tapes/name-of-levelset
that contain the tapes that were recorded by you while playing.
If the "tapes" folder contains no "xxx.tape" file at all, but
contains another subfolder, open it and check out if it contains the
tape files. If it is the case, then you have to cut the tapes from that
folder and paste them directly into the "tapes" folder. Now you can use
the ":ist" blind command from within RnD.
If there is no "tapes" folder at all, or if it is completely empty,
then the levelset has been shipped/released with no solution tapes.
Don't panic, you
can always take a look to the Bojster
tape
archive, to see if there is a solution tape for the level you can't
solve.
Once you have got the tape, read "I've
downloaded
a solution tape. Where do I put it?" for further details.
If you can't find the solution tape you need, you can always post a
message in the Official RnD
Forum.
First of all, make sure that you have activated the team-mode option
in the Setup Menu.
Once the option mentioned above is set, you can define the input devices for the other
players and play in team-mode on a single computer.
If you want to play over the Internet or over a LAN (Local Area
Network, also called Intranet), then you have to launch RnD in network
mode. Read the manual's section about the "Network Mode" for further details.
Remember that the player who launches RnD in Server Mode must tell
its IP to the players that will use RnD in Client Mode.
All the following examples assume "user" as your current username on
the system.
If you are running on Windows 98:
C:\Documents\Rocks'n'Diamonds\levels\user
If you are running on Windows XP:
C:\Documents and
Settings\user\Rocks'n'Diamonds\levels\user
If you are running on a Unix-like system as a normal user:
/home/user/.rocksndiamonds/levels/user
If you are running on a Unix-like system as
root (or equivalent)
/root/.rocksndiamonds/levels/root
Please consider that the examples shown above could not fit exactly
to your operating system: it all depends on the way the system has been
set.
Searching your hard disk for the file "levelinfo.conf" will find all
the Rocks'n'Diamonds Levelset folders installed. Now just read all the
folder names that have been found and spot out the one that ends with
your current username.
Unix-like system users notice: some systems/programs could be set to ignore files and folders starting with a dot "." (also called "period" or "firm point"). If you can't find any "levelinfo.conf" file on your hard disk, try changing this setting on your system/program.
In detail, RnD creates a Personal
Folder (named Rocks'n'Diamonds) for each user of the system. This
folder contains a "levels" folder, which on its turn contains a folder
named after the user's name, that contains the default, editable
levelset for that specific user.
See also "Where can I find
my own tapes?" and "How can I share my
own levels with other
people?".
Rocks'n'Diamonds allows recording the games you play. You can save
your progress in a level to restore and continue it later. The file
that holds such gameplay record is called "tape". All the tapes you
have
recorded while playing are stored in your Personal Folder, inside of the
"tapes" folder. For each levelset, there will be a folder (named after
the levelset's name) which will contain several "xxx.tape" files, like
"001.tape", "002.tape" and so on.
If you want to show some of your tapes with other people, you only
need to give away those "xxx.tape" files, mentioning the complete name
(and eventually the version) of the levelset they have been recorded on.
See also "Where can I
find my own levels?" and "How can I save a game?
How does the tape recorder work?".
First of all, you should find your own levelset folder, inside of
your Personal Folder.
As the simplest pick, you can take the whole levelset folder -
keeping it named after your username - put it straight inside an
archive, and then give that archive away to other people.
As a better pick, you would first rename the folder adding the
levelset's name. For example, if your username is "John" and your
levelset is all about BoulderDash tricks, you can rename the folder as
"BD Tricks by John" or something similar. Then you can put the whole
folder inside of an archive and give it away.
Notice that after that you rename that folder, Rocks'n'Diamonds will
create a new blank levelset folder (again named after your username),
so that you can start creating a new levelset.
If you want to share just one level, then you could spot out the
single "xxx.level" file inside of that folder and give it away. For
example, if that level is marked as nr. 3 in the main screen of RnD,
then the file will be named "003.level". Please notice that this file
holds only the map design and the CE settings. If your level uses
custom graphics, you should ship the "xxx.level" file along with the
"levelinfo.conf" file and the whole "graphics" folder, which will
contain all the images and the indispensable "graphicsinfo.conf" file.
Again, packing the whole levelset folder all together would be the
best choice. Then you could remove (from the archive) all those levels
that you don't want to share.
Important note: remember to edit the "levelinfo.conf" file, making
sure that you set an appropriate name for the levelset. It is very
important to make clear the author and the levelset name both in the
folder's name and in the "levelinfo.conf" file. The name of the folder
will be used to create all the corresponding subfolders in the "tapes"
and "scores" folders, while the name specified in the "levelinfo.conf"
file will be shown within Rocks'n'Diamonds, in the Levelset List
and in the Main Screen (the level-preview screen).
If you want to share your homemade levels with the Rocks'n'Diamonds
community, the best place to upload them is the Official RnD File
Archive, created and maintained by Simon Forsberg. You could also
send
them to Martijn Mooij, to put them on the page dedicated to RnD on his
BD-Fans website.
Once you have downloaded a solution tape, you can put it in the
following folder:
Personal Folder\levels\name-of-levelset\tapes
This is the standard folder meant to hold the solution tapes for
that levelset. If there is no "tapes" folder, you can create a new one
and paste there the solution tapes. Once you have pasted the files, you
can use the ":ist" command from within RnD. Read "Help! I can't
finish a level! Do you know how to solve it?" for details about the
":ist" command.
As another pick, you can paste the tapes in the following folder:
Personal Folder\tapes\name-of-levelset
This is the folder that contains the tapes that were recorded by you
while playing. Pasting the tapes there will overwrite your own tapes.
You would make a backup copy of them, eventually.
If you have downloaded an archive, all you have to do is to unpack
it inside of the "levels" folder of your Personal Folder. Be careful
because some archives do not create appropriate subfolders for their
levelsets, but simply add all of their content inside of the "levels"
folder. See the manual's sections "How
to install levelsets" and "Issues about extracting archives"
for further details.
If you have downloaded a single "xxx.level" file, then you have to
put it inside of an existing levelset folder, eventually renaming it.
See the manual's section "How to
install a single level file" for further details.
If the "readonly" attribute is set, it is set for the whole
levelset.
This attribute can be changed from the "levelinfo.conf" file of each
levelset. You can find such file in each levelset folder. Levelset
folders are stored in your Personal
Folder as well as in the Working
Folder of RnD. Look for the "levels" subfolder and open it, open
the subfolder named after the levelset you want to modify. Once you
have found the "levelinfo.conf", open it in a plain text editor and
look for a line reading:
readonly: true
If such line is present, change it to:
readonly: false
If you can't find that line, then the levelset is "readonly" by
default. In such a case, simply add:
readonly: false
at the end of the file.
Now you have to restart RnD, then you can modify and save those
levels.
For further information about the configuration files of RnD, read the manual's section about "File Types".
An archive is a single file that can hold/contain different files
and folders. Some archives allow compressing the data in order to save
space on the disks and to shorten the time needed to transfer the files
over the Internet.
Zip, 7z, Gzip (gz), Tar and Rar are all different formats of
archives. They all work in the same way, all the difference is about
the methods used by each of them to pack and compress files and
folders. Each archive format needs to be created and unpacked using
specific programs, but most of them will recognize each other format.
Just make a search on the web and you will find several free programs
that will fit for your purposes.
Update Log
December the 9th, 2006
+ Fixed some broken links.
+ Added navigation links in each section (directory-style).
+ Several other small changes (a word here, a comma there).
--------------------------
December the 4th, 2006
. Release of the first draft of this documentation.
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