erebus instructions

If the performance of the game seems too slow, or the game is failing to run properly, then try disabling "Lighting Effects" (from the main menu, go to Options).

If the game fails to run, or has problems, please try the following:

There are some known issues:

The main menu has options to start the game or load a previously saved game, or set some options. The available options are:

• Sound - Whether sound/music is enabled.
• Lighting Effects - If enabled, a lighting effect surrounds your player. If you get poor performance, try disabling this option.

You can also select "Offline help" to open up these instructions, or "Online help" to launch this website in your browser ("Online help" is better as it allows you to play the game while the instructions are open in the browser, as well as meaning you get the latest version of the webpage, but "Offline help" is useful if you are without an Internet connection).

When starting the game, you also have various choices:

Click "Start game", then click "Next" (accepting the default options) until the game starts. After the game loads, you'll be shown details of your first quest: to kill all the goblins in the dungeon.

To move your character, click where you want to move to (either with the mouse, or touch for touchscreens). You can scroll the view around by clicking/touching and dragging (also on PCs, you can scroll by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen).

Move your character to the right, to the crossroads, and you will soon be attacked by a goblin! To fight, click/touch on the goblin.

Towards the top left will be displayed your portrait, and a green bar indicating your health. When you are attacking an enemy, next to this will be displayed the name of the enemy, and a red bar indicating its health.

Hopefully you will be able to defeat the goblin, which will then leave behind some gold to pick up. Enemies may be carrying gold and/or items, which they leave behind when they die. To pick up gold or an item, simply click/touch to move over the item, then click/touch on the item to pick it up.

Now explore the rest of the dungeon, and kill all remaining goblins! If you encounter doors, click/touch on them to open the door. You will be told when you have completed the quest. When this is so, return to where you started, and exit through the door that was to the left. You can do this by click/touching to move to the door, then click/touch to exit.

This should be enough information to get you started, but it is recommened to read the rest of the instructions here!

As explained in "Quickstart", you can move your character around by click/touching where you want to move to. You can also click/touch and drag to move the view around. On PCs you can also scroll by moving the mouse to the edge of the screen.

You can zoom in and out by using the "zoom" gesture on multitouch touchpads or multitouch touchscreens (or see the zoom in and out GUI buttons, below).

There are various other controls:

• Attack an enemy - Click on the enemy. If you have a ranged weapon, you will be able to shoot enemies from a distance.
• Talking to an NPC - For friendly NPCs, you can click on them to talk to them. Some NPCs will be traders or shopkeepers, and talking to them will allow you to buy and sell items.
• Opening a door - Walk up near to the door, then click on the door. Some doors will "open" simply by disappearing and letting you walk through the door. Other doors are "exits", and clicking on them will take you to a different location. Some doors may be locked, and can only be opened if you have the correct key. To leave the dungeon, click on the exit that was near where you started. You can leave the dungeon at any time, including before completing the quest - if the quest isn't yet completed, you will be allowed to rest, healing your wounds, as well as being able to spend money in shops, before returning to the dungeon to complete your quest.
• Interacting with scenery / opening containers - You can try interacting with any scenery by walking up to it and clicking on it. For example, clicking on a treasure chest will reveal any times inside it. Other kinds of scenery may show you a set of options when you click on them.
• Picking up items - Click on the items when you are standing near to them. Note that at the moment you don't get a choice if there is more than one - so click repeatedly to pick them all up, then drop any that you don't want (see below).

Erebus can also be controlled via a keyboard:

• Move with the arrow keys, or W/A/S/D (use combinations to move diagonally), or the numeric keypad.
• Action - Press space or return/enter for a generic action, which will be: attack or talk to an NPC in front of you (or otherwise attack the nearest enemy if you are armed with a ranged weapon); open a door in front of you; interact with scenery (or open a container) in front of you, or picking up items at your feet.
• Force pick up - You can also pick up items at your feet by pressing "U" (normally pressing space/enter will work, but not if there's also something in front to interact with).
• Target/Next enemy - Press 'N' to "target" an NPC, or cycle through the visible enemies (targetting controls which enemy you are attacking - particularly useful when using a ranged weapon, with keyboard control).

There is a row of GUI button icons towards the top-right, providing the following controls (in order, left-to-right):

• Turbo (shortcut 'T') - This is a toggle button. When enabled, the game time progresses twice as fast. This can be useful when travelling along long passageways that you've already explored.
• Quicksave (shortut 'F5') - Quick-saves the current game under the name "quicksave.xml". This option is not available in "Permadeath" mode.
• Zoom out (shortcut '<') - Zooms the display out.
• Zoom in (shortcut '>') - Zooms the display in.
• Centre (shortcut 'C') - Centres the display on the player.

There are further controls and information that can be accessed from the buttons on the left hand side (or via a keyboard shortcut):

This shows your character's current statistics, which indicate how good you are at various activities, as well as your current health, and experience:

• Fighting Prowess (FP) - How skilled your character is in hand-to-hand combat.
• Bow Skill (BS) - How skilled your character is at firing bows.
• Strength (S) - How strong your character is. Stronger characters are able to inflict stronger blows on their enemies. They can also carry more items.
• Attacks (A) - Currently unused.
• Mind (M) - Used for magic attacks and defence. Some spells only cause harm to the target if the spellcaster wins a Mind roll against the target. The chance of success depends on how the two characters' Mind statistic compares. Currently your player cannot use magic, so this statistic basically helps you avoid some magical attacks.
• Dexterity (D) - How good your character is at avoiding traps, and avoiding being hit by arrows.
• Bravery (B) - Some enemies (such as the undead) cause terror. This may cause you to be temporarily paralysed from fear when you encounter them. A higher bravery score reduces the chance of this happening. (For enemies, having a lower Bravery means they are more likely to flee when sufficiently injured.)
• Speed (Sp) - How fast your character moves.
• Health (H) - Your current health and "maximum" health. Your health can never exceed the maximum value (though the maximum value will increase as your character becomes more experienced). If your health reaches 0, you are dead.
• Level - Your character's experience level. This will increase every so often when you receive enough XP (see below). Every time it increases, some of your character's stats will increase. You will be given a choice of 2 statistics to increase. Your Speed and Health will also increase with every level.
• XP - Your current XP, and how many are needed to progress to the next Level. You receive XP by various actions, such as killing enemies, unlocking doors, completing sub-quests.

This window displays the items that you are carrying. You can filter the list by selecting the options along the top (e.g., to only display weapons, click "Wpns"). The window also displays how much gold you have, and the current weight in the format "current weight / maximum weight". If the current weight exceeds the maximum weight you can carry, you must drop some items before you can move.

To do more with a particular item, select the item by clicking it. You can then:

• Drop the item, by clicking "Drop Item" at the bottom.
• Read more information on the item, by clicking "Info" at the bottom.

There are also special types of items: weapons, armour and shields.

Weapons are used in combat. Your current weapon, if any, is indicated with "[Current Weapon]". To use a different weapon, select it then click "Arm Weapon". You can also disarm the current weapon by selecting it and clicking "Disarm Weapon". If you have no weapon armed you will fight with your fists, though this is not recommended. Different weapons have different amounts of damage, which you can see by selecting the "Info" option. Damage is given in a format of rolling dice, as: "X"D"Y" + "Z", where "X" is the number of dice thrown, "Y" is the type of dice ("Y" equal to 10 means a D10, i.e., a 10 sided die with numbers 1 to 10), "Z" is the number added to the value. So "2D10 + 1" means roll two D10s, add the results, and add 1. "3D6 - 1" means roll three D6s, add the results, and subtract 1.

Some weapons are "ranged" (e.g., bows) which means you can use them from a distance. They also need ammunition (e.g., arrows are needed for bows) which are stored as a separate item.

Some weapons have a minimum strength (see "Info") - if your strength is not high enough, you will be unable to fight with this weapon!

Armour is worn to protect you in combat, reducing the damage you take. Similar to with weapons, the currently worn armour is indicated with "[Current Armour]", and you can change into new armour by selecting it, and clicking "Wear Armour" (or "Take Off Armour" to take it off).

Some armour types have a minimum strength (see "Info") - if your strength is not high enough, you will be unable to move with this armour!

Shields may also be used, but not if you are using a two-handed weapon. To use a shield, select the shield and click "Arm Shield" (or "Disarm Shield" to stop using it). A shield will provide you with extra protection in combat.

Some other kinds of items may allow additional options - e.g., potions allowing you the option to drink them.

Displays details of your quest.

Pauses the game. To unpause, click anywhere. Note that the game also pauses when the window is deactivated, so again click anywhere to unpause.

Rest until you have recovered your health. You can't rest if enemies are nearby. In some locations, there may be a risk of being woken by a wandering monster!

This offers the following options:

• Quit game - Quits the current game. Make sure you save the game first if you don't want to lose it!
• Save game - Saves the current game under a filename of your choosing (or overwrite an existing one). A default filename is provided consisting of the current date and time. As with resting, you cannot save the game if enemies are nearby. Note that the game will be automatically saved when you move from one location to another, under "autosave.xml" (except on Symbian).
• Back to game - Don't do anything, and return to the game.

As explained above, you can leave the dungeon at any time by clicking on the exit near where you started. This will heal your wounds (as with resting). You can also visit various shops to buy items with your gold, and sell any items you found that you don't want. Note that the sale price of items will always be less than the purchase price!

If you haven't completed your quest yet, you can click "Continue your Quest" to return to the dungeon to complete your quest. If you had completed the quest, then you can click "Start next Quest" to start the next quest.

If you are on the last quest, and have completed it, then leaving the dungeon means you have completed the game! Note that currently Erebus is a work in progress, and more quests will be added in future versions. If you have a save game file, this should be compatible with future versions (note that changes to the quest you are currently playing will not take effect on any existing save game files, to avoid risk of incompatibilities, but you should be able to move onto any new quests that have been added).

There are many dangerous enemies you may meet during your adventures:

Goblins. These are small, foul creatures. Whilst one of the weaker races of evil, they are still able to overpower less experienced adventurers, and can be deadly in numbers. Whilst many goblins form their own tribes, others are found enslaved by larger creatures such as Orcs.

Orcs. These are the most common enemy to civilised societies. Large and brutish, they are physically stronger than many humans. They mostly dwell underground in caves and dungeons, but can be found in the wilderness. They typically live and travel in packs. They usually keep away from human settlements, instead only attacking travellers and adventurers, but they are most dangerous when well trained and organised into armies.

Wyverns. Winged reptiles. These fast flying animals are often hostile.

Zombies. These unnatural beings are rotting corpses of the recently deceased, animated back to life by magical means. These undead creatures move slowly, but are strong opponents. They are also ridden with disease, which can be caught by those they strike. If you are infected with disease, this will reduce your Fighting Prowess and Strength by 1. This can only be cured with a Cure Disease potion.

Skeletons. These terrifying undead creatures are created by necromancers, often to acts as their servants, as guardians, or even form massive armies.

Shadows. These undead beings are ghostly creatures, trapped on this earthly plane. These evil creatures were once people. Now, they can be harmed only by magical weapons.

Giant Spiders. Some species of spider can grow to a size larger than a human. They may be found underground, or in some parts of the wilderness. They also have the ability to cause temporary paralysis on a successful hit, due to their poisonous bite!

Minotaurs. The head of bull with the body of a human, these creatures are presumably created through magical means or perhaps other experimentation.

Currently your player cannot use magic (though this will be added in later versions), but you will encounter some enemies that can cast spells. The existing magic system is fairly simple, though the following spells are currently implemented:

Acid Strike. The spell causes a jet of acid to be sprayed at the target, causing 2D20 damage (reduced by armour or shield).

Agony. The spell uses the caster's psychic energy, directed at the unfortunate recipient, causing great pain - and 2D20 damage (with no defence from armour or shield). The effects can be avoided with a successful Mind test.

Fire Bolt. The spellcaster shoots forth a bolt of fire at the target, causing 2D10 damage (a shield reduces damage, armour has no effect).

Heal. This spell heals the recipient, causing wounds to magically close up, bruises to disappear, fractured bones to be mended and so on, restoring 4D6 health points.

Paralyse. If the recipient fails a Mind test, then he or she is gripped with feelings of terror and dread, and unable to move, for 10 seconds.

On non-mobile platforms, Erebus can be run in windowed mode by running from the command line with the argument "-windowed". E.g., on Windows, run with:

erebus.exe -windowed

Please contact me at mark dot harman at ntlworld dot com .

If you are reporting a bug, if possible please send me:

• Any reported error messages.
• The "log.txt" file. This can be found:
  • For Windows, in %LOCALAPPDATA%\erebus .
  • For Linux, it should be in $HOME/.local/share/data/erebus (in Ubuntu, make sure View->Show Hidden Files is selected). If not, try looking for an erebus/ folder somewhere in your home folder.
  • For Symbian it's located in the folder private/2006dbd2 on the drive that you installed the game on. Seeing this folder is a bit tricky, as it's hidden when viewing on the phone. You can access by connecting your phone to a PC and selecting "mass storage" to view the drives (though this may only be possible if you've installed to an external SD card).
  The log file is overwritten each time you run the game, so you'll have to take a copy straight away - although note that the last-but-one game log will be available under "log_old.txt"; in the case of assertion failures, it will also be copied to "log_assertion_failure.txt".
• If under Linux and no log.txt file is generated, try running erebus from a Terminal window, and note if that gives any error messages.
• A description of what happened, and what steps you took that resulted in the bug.
• Does the bug happen every time?
• A save game file, if relevant (in the savegames/ folder, in the same location as the log.txt file - see above for details on the location).
• Any details of your system may also be helpful, e.g.: operating system and version, CPU, graphics card, Direct X version if relevant, make/model of smartphone/tablet if relevant.

If you would like to contribute to Erebus, there are various ways you can help:

• Graphics artists - More graphics would be useful to have. Examples include NPCs (animated enemies, static NPCs, and portraits), scenery, items, images to illustrate game messages, and documentation artwork. Please contact me if you want info on the expected graphics/animation formats, or what sort of images would be useful.
• Musicians - It would be useful to have background music for the game. More sound effects are also welcome!
• Porting - Feel free to port Erebus to other platforms - it should be easy to port to any OS that supports Qt. If code changes are required, if you send me the files I can integrate them into the main source (please check the Git repository on Sourceforge for the latest version to work with).
• Tell people about it! - If you like the game, then please feel free to tell other people about it, on your blog/Twitter/website/etc :) Feel free to link with the following HTML code (or just do a plain text link if you prefer):

  <a href="http://erebusrpg.sourceforge.net/"><img src="http://erebusrpg.sourceforge.net/erebus_logo1.png" title="erebus"></a>

• Give me a nice rating :) (On Nokia/Android stores, or other hosting sites...)
• Videos - videos of the gameplay (e.g., on YouTube) would be useful to have, partly to help raise awareness, and also to act as gameplay tutorials.

Version 0.6 (2013/03/24)

FIXED   Extra strong hits should apply to hand-to-hand combat (fix it properly
        this time!)
FIXED   NPCs casting spells shouldn't be displaying "run" animation.
FIXED   Logging and save games fixed to work on systems with unicode path for
        the home/user directory. Filenames with unicode also now supported.
FIXED   Potential crash if sound system fails to work.
FIXED   Placement of NPCs where graphical image is not equal width and height.
FIXED   Images for scenery info windows weren't displaying on Android.
ADDED   New gameplay mode: random dungeon.
ADDED   Player can now select which two statistics to increase when levelling
        up.
ADDED   New weapon "Holy Water", can be thrown at "unholy" creatures causing
        them damage.
ADDED   New weapon "Acid", can be thrown at enemies.
ADDED   New spells "Acid Strike", "Agony", "Heal", "Paralyse".
ADDED   Targetted enemy is now highlighted with a bouncing red circle.
ADDED   Arrows now displayed when firing bows.
ADDED   Graphical effect for spells.
ADDED   "Turbo" option to make game time go at 2x rate.
ADDED   Various (random) "game over" messages, also displays achieved level and
        XP.
ADDED   New "permadeath" optional game mode - only one save game allowed, which
        is deleted if you die!
ADDED   New quicksave option.
ADDED   New Orc Shaman.
ADDED   Support for different types of ammo.
ADDED   Character portraits.
ADDED   Journal now records interaction with NPCs (sub-quests), along with
        record of time elapsed in quest.
ADDED   Allow player's name to be specified by the user.
ADDED   New tilemaps support - added road to village/past level.
ADDED   Smoke effect for Armourer's building.
ADDED   Pressing 'N' cycles targetting through the visible enemies.
ADDED   Fade in/out graphical effects.
ADDED   Make install now supported on Linux.
UPDATED Improved AI, enemies now follow you round corners!
UPDATED Enemies now try to flee if sufficiently injured, and fail a bravery
        test.
UPDATED Improved clicking on scenery and NPCs.
UPDATED Improved performance of game when player moves (due to improved
        performance of visibility detection).
UPDATED Performance tweaks for Symbian.
UPDATED NPC and scenery graphics now lazily loaded - improves startup
        performance, and reduces memory usage.
UPDATED Fire Bolt spell damage now not reduced by armour (only shield).
UPDATED Zooming in/out with multitouchpad zoom no longer unpauses game.
UPDATED Documentation for spells; other improvements to documentation.
UPDATED Giant Spider now has chance of causing paralysis on successful hit.
UPDATED Zombie now has chance of causing disease on a successful hit.
UPDATED Save/load game lists now display date and time; no need to hack this
        information into the filename itself.
UPDATED Save/load game lists now sorted properly by date and time, most recent
        first.
UPDATED Journal now autoscrolls to bottom (i.e, most recent).
UPDATED Save game successfully saved message now done as an on-screen text
        effect.
UPDATED On non-mobile platforms, some windows now don't show as fullscreen.
UPDATED Fixed hard opaque shadows to be soft.
UPDATED Replaced lower button bar with smaller buttons at the top-right.
UPDATED Changed font for non-mobile platforms.
UPDATED If unable to open log file in OS user space, try in program folder.

Version 0.5 (2013/01/28)

FIXED   Bug with combat routines, also meant difficulty levels didn't work
        properly.
FIXED   Current quest index would get reset when loading save games.
FIXED   Pathfinding bug in some circumstances when removing scenery (e.g.,
        doors).
FIXED   Problem where player couldn't pick up items near NPCs.
FIXED   Should display NPC's name rather than template.
FIXED   "Bounce" effect for NPCs wasn't being saved.
FIXED   Wasn't loading NPC "default" positions correctly; also made it so NPCs
        return to their default positions when moving to another location, to
        fix a problem where the player could teleport/move into another NPC's
        position when moving into the location.
FIXED   Non-magic Rings should be displayed in Misc tab for items window.
FIXED   Extra strong hits shouldn't apply to ranged attacks.
FIXED   Wasn't saving information on smoke effects for fire scenery.
ADDED   New 3rd quest.
ADDED   Wandering monsters (when resting, and randomly spawning).
ADDED   Animated torch graphics.
ADDED   Footsteps sound effect.
ADDED   Paintings to 2nd quest.
UPDATED Changed player levelling, player stats now advance more slowly, to make
        game more scalable to high XP levels.
UPDATED Leather armour no longer has minimum strength requirement.
UPDATED Improved graphics, now has a more consistent 3D look, and new wall
        graphics.
UPDATED Improved door graphics.
UPDATED Display whether item is worn/etc in shop interface.
UPDATED Items that shop doesn't buy are now grayed out, and can't be selected.
UPDATED Made door opening sound quieter.
UPDATED Improved visibility detection of doors.
UPDATED Reduced size of "big" font on non-mobile platforms.
UPDATED Made keyboard movement smoother.
UPDATED Current weapon damage and armour rating displayed in stats window.
UPDATED Improved performance of loading/saving games.
UPDATED Lighting effects now defaults to off on Android and Symbian.

Version 0.4 (2013/01/01)

FIXED   Don't crash in InfoDialog if fail to load picture.
FIXED   Problems on Windows if Qt plugins not available: would crash when dying
        or otherwise displaying an InfoDialog with a picture; music and sound
        effects wouldn't work. Now distributed with all Qt plugins.
FIXED   Corrected FPS reading.
FIXED   Odd behaviour with kinetic scrolling when paused. Kinetic scrolling and
        mouse pointer scrolling now works when paused.
ADDED   Added Short Sword +1 to 2nd quest.
ADDED   Added Ring of Bravery to 2nd quest.
ADDED   Display text when enemies drop items when dying.
ADDED   Quest names.
UPDATED Improved frame rate for faster systems (was previously capped at around
        25 FPS, now allows up to 60 FPS).
UPDATED Improved graphics quality of smoke effect.
UPDATED Improved user interface behaviour of clicking on doors.
UPDATED Improved performance of path finding (also improves performance of
        starting quests, and opening doors).
UPDATED Improved performance by not doing some calculations every frame (e.g.,
        AI).
UPDATED Aligned side buttons to have equal widths.
UPDATED Unpause on any key press.
UPDATED Don't show game area before displaying quest information, when starting
        game.
UPDATED Player's items in items window and trade windows are now sorted (by
        category, then alphabetically)

Version 0.3 (2012/12/22)

FIXED   Memory leak.
FIXED   Rock scenery texture was sometimes drawn above player.
FIXED   Lighting effects didn't work on Nokia 5800 when zoomed in.
ADDED   New gameplay element: Terror.
ADDED   Player can now be controlled via rogue-like keyboard controls.
ADDED   Smoke effect for fires.
UPDATED Improved floor graphics.
UPDATED Improved rock scenery texture.
UPDATED More graphical scenery.
UPDATED Made some 1st quest boundaries more natural and cave-like.
UPDATED Allowed floor regions to be concave rather than just convex.
UPDATED Reduced required disk size for some NPC animations.
UPDATED Various user interface improvements.
UPDATED Player now stops moving if caught in a mantrap.
UPDATED Smoother progress bar reporting when loading quest.
UPDATED Alt+F4, and back button on Android, now asks if player wants to quit
        game.
UPDATED More documentation.

Version 0.2 (2012/12/01)

FIXED   Fixed crash on exit for Ubuntu.
FIXED   Major memory leak when exiting a game.
FIXED   Hitting and death animations weren't displayed correctly.
FIXED   Improved NPC ranged combat behaviour.
FIXED   Player graphic wasn't displayed when nearly but not quite off-screen.
FIXED   Default save game filename was always the last day of the month.
FIXED   In game text effects sometimes drawn on top of each other.
FIXED   Fixed description for weapons with negative damage modifiers.
FIXED   Made multitouch zoom work properly on touchscreens.
ADDED   New quest.
ADDED   Choice of starting characters: Barbarian, Elf, Halfling, Ranger or
        Warrior.
ADDED   More weapons: Dagger, Short Sword, Two Handed Sword, Shortbow.
ADDED   Lighting effects (optional).
ADDED   Background texture.
ADDED   Interaction with scenery.
ADDED   Friendly NPCs, that player can talk to.
ADDED   "Kinetic"-scrolling for map view.
ADDED   "O" button to centre of player's position.
ADDED   Some tooltips (for non-touch platforms).
ADDED   Some keyboard shortcuts.
ADDED   Display total weight that can be carried on items window.
ADDED   Autosave when game goes to background.
UPDATED Significantly reduced memory requirements of game.
UPDATED Improved pathfinding - player and NPCs can now navigate around each
        other.
UPDATED Made status bars transparent.
UPDATED If more than one item to pick up, allow user to choose which items to
        pick up.
UPDATED Replaced pop-up windowed dialogs with full-screen dialog (works better
        for Symbian and Android in particular).
UPDATED Improved clicking behaviour on NPC/enemies.
UPDATED Improved effect of potion of healing.
UPDATED Removed goblin_champion.png graphics for now.
And lots more improvements...

Version 0.1 (2012/07/21)

First public release.