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This is meant to decrease the amount of stupid questions that people ask me via email. If your question is not answered here, feel free to email me (see left frame).

This has some questions that may seem a bit silly, but it is intended to be able to be placed anywhere on the Internet, not just on this site, so it mentions this site's URL several times.

Contributors: Matt Craighead, Utumno Developer (craighea@yahoo.com); Medicine Storm, Utumno Maintainer (utumno@medicinestorm.com)
Assured to be accurate for v1.0a5 only!
Last update: July 15, 2009

Section 1: General Stuff

1. What is Utumno?
2. What makes Utumno special?
3. How do I get Utumno?
4. I get some kind of "anonymous access denied" error when I try to download Utumno! What should I do?
5. How can I get Utumno for Mac/Linux/other?
6. Where can I find out about Utumno?
7. Where can I get the latest copy of this FAQ?
8. How do I play this game?

Section 2: Gameplay Issues

1. I can move the mouse around, but clicking does nothing!
2. The game runs too slow!
3. The game runs too fast!
4. How do I pause?
5. How do I enter shops?
6. I can't save/load my character. The game just crashes when I try.

Section 3: The Past, Present, and Future

1. Why was the Utumno project started?
2. What is the history of Utumno?
3. What does the future hold for Utumno?
4. I'm a big Utumno fan. Now what?

1.1. What is Utumno?

Utumno is a graphical, real-time, tile-based freeware hack-and-slash RPG. It is based on a textual and turn-based similar game called Angband. It is also strongly similar to Diablo.

1.2. What makes Utumno special?

Utumno combines strong gameplay with good graphics! Many games today have good graphics, but few have strong gameplay. On the other hand, some games, like Angband and its kin, have strong gameplay but very poor graphics. Utumno bridges this gap between Diablo (good graphics, overly simple gameplay) and Angband (no graphics, very complex gameplay).

1.3. How do I get Utumno?

Click on the word Download in the pane on the left and follow the instructions or go to http://utumno.medicinestorm.com/archive/index.php?area=download.

1.4. I get some kind of "anonymous access denied" error when I try to download Utumno! What should I do?

This used to happen when Utumno was available via FTP, but now that it is downloaded with HTTP, this shouldn't happen.

1.5. How can I get Utumno for Mac/Linux/other?

That may be a small bit difficult to accomplish, seeing as the only version out so far is a DOS/Windows version. Feel free to write your own. Just download the source code and start working on it. Make sure to contact me if you succeed.

1.6. Where can I find out about Utumno?

The best place to find out about Utumno is on the Utumno web page. It is updated on a regular basis (generally every few days). The URL is:

	http://utumno.medicinestorm.com/archive
	

Discussion about Matt Craighead's Utumno can be found at:

	http://utumno.medicinestorm.com/content/forum/viewforum.php?f=25
	

The latest version of the FAQ will be available on the Utumno web site by clicking on "FAQ" in the navigation frame. Alternately, you can go to the following URL:

	http://utumno.medicinestorm.com/archive/faq.php
	

This FAQ is also posted occasionally to rec.games.roguelike.angband and rec.games.roguelike.misc.

1.8. How do I play this game?

F1 is your friend.
A) Start the game.
B) Press the F1 key.
C) Start reading.

2.1. I can move the mouse around, but clicking does nothing!

This is a symptom of the worst bug in v1.0a3. Namely, the timer code has a significant, if small, error, and it causes the game to think no time passes, preventing you from moving. Interestingly, this problem does not occur under Win95. It only manifests itself in pure DOS (Windows DOS boxes do not count).

There is no workaround in v1.0a3. Get v1.0a4, which fixes the problem.

2.2. The game runs too slow!

This is a complicated problem. What is really going on depends on what the actual symptoms are. It is also possible that it is actually running at a decent speed and you are looking at the wrong sign.

The frame rate of your game can be determined by looking at the speed at which your mouse moves. If your mouse moves smoothly, or close to smoothly, your computer is perfectly fast enough. You are merely judging the rate at which the player moves to be the frame rate, which is not true.

If the mouse is moving choppily, then your computer is probably indeed too slow. The threshold at which this happens has not been determined, but it seems that Pentium users have no problems, while 486 users may or may not experience difficulties, depending on several factors. The most important of these are processor speed (486s range from 25 MHz to 100 MHz) and video card speed (anywhere from a poor ISA card to a good local-bus or PCI card).

If you want to increase the speed of your movement, you can use the speed control ('=' then 's'). If you want to find out your frame rate, bring up the console, type "fps_start", close the console and sit there for a minute or so, reopen the console, and type "fps_end". Ideally, do this in the middle of town, where the game will produce the slowest FPS result possible. If you do this, I'd like to hear the results you got. Give me some details on your computer and the number of FPS you got.

2.3. The game runs too fast!

This is usually because you are running the game on a computer that is much faster than the game was designed for. You can adjust the game speed by following these easy steps: A) In a text editor like notepad, open the UTUMNO.PRF file located in the game's DAT folder (Typically C:\Program Files\Matt Craighead's Utumno v1.0a5\DAT\, etc.)
B) Find the line that says game_speed
C) Increase the number at the end of that line. (For example: it should say something like game_speed 10 or game_speed 12)
D) Save the file and restart the game. You may have to re-adjust the number several times to get it right.

2.4. How do I pause?

Hit Escape (only in v1.0a4 and above). There was no pause command in v1.0a3.

2.5. How do I enter shops?

In v1.0a3, you needed to hit '-' when you moved on top of a shop door to enter it. In v1.0a4, you enter automatically. If you leave and want to reenter, '-' still works.

2.6. I can't save/load my character. The game just crashes when I try.

This is a known issue and we are working on getting it resolved. This problem is usually caused when your character dies. The save file becomes corrupted and causes the game to crash when you try to save or load a new, living character. In version 1.0a5 for Windows and version 1.0a6 for windows you can work around this problem by running the ResetSaves.bat file located in the game's install folder (Typically C:\Program Files\Matt Craighead's Utumno v1.0a5\, etc.) to erase and reset the save data. Be warned this will DESTROY any saved characters you may have. However, since this corruption is usually caused by a character's death, it usually doesn't matter if your character is destroyed.

3.1. Why was the Utumno project started?

After I saw the Diablo demo back in the summer of 1996, I was convinced for certain that text was the way of the past for roguelike games like Angband. I immediately began working on a Graphical Angband, later renamed Utumno. For various reasons, I restarted the project twice, and the latest restart was in May 1997.

3.2. What is the history of Utumno?

That's a good question, but it's outside of the scope of the FAQ. Perhaps the Utumno web page may provide the answer some day.

3.3. What does the future hold for Utumno?

Utumno will only grow better as time passes. I have more plans than I will ever have the spare time to implement. You'll see them as they show up. The news page will generally tell you what's in store in the next version if you follow it.

3.4. I'm a big Utumno fan. Now what?

Read the web page's news frequently. Download new versions. Put links on your web sites to the web page. Recruit friends to play. Generally, help me in making Utumno take over the world of gaming!