Options (3.4.3)

This article is about options for NetHack 3.4.3 and 3.4.3-NAO. For the most current stable release of NetHack (3.6.7), see Options.

For SLASH'EM and dNetHack options, see Options (SLASH'EM) and Options (dNetHack).

As NetHack 3.4.3 is still a popular version to play both locally and via online servers, and many variants use this version as a base, NetHackWiki has a list of options that affect the look and feel of the game below.

3.4.3

asksavedisk

NetHack should ask for save file disk for saving game. Only available if NetHack was compiled with MFLOPPY. Boolean option, defaults to false. Can be set in-game. Is saved into the savefile.

dungeon

Set the character symbols for displaying the dungeon. Compound option, takes a string of up to 41 characters, with default values of

" |--------||.-|++##.##<><>_|\\#{}.}..## #}"
(quotes not included; the throne symbol is escaped: nethack reads \\ as one \)

This can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#DUNGEON.

The order of the symbols is: solid rock, vertical wall, horizontal wall, upper left corner, upper right corner, lower left corner, lower right corner, cross wall, upward T wall, downward T wall, leftward T wall, rightward T wall, no door, vertical open door, horizontal open door, vertical closed door, horizontal closed door, iron bars, tree, floor of a room, dark corridor, lit corridor, stairs up, stairs down, ladder up, ladder down, altar, grave, throne, kitchen sink, fountain, pool or moat, ice, lava, vertical lowered drawbridge, horizontal lowered drawbridge, vertical raised drawbridge, horizontal raised drawbridge, air, cloud, under water.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

effects

Set the character symbols used for displaying various effects. Compound option, takes a string of up to 29 characters, with defaults values of |-\/*!)(0#@*/-\\||\\-//-\\| |\\-/

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#EFFECTS.

The order of the symbols is: vertical beam, horizontal beam, left slant, right slant, digging beam, camera flash beam, left boomerang, right boomerang, four glyphs giving the sequence for magic resistance displays, the eight surrounding glyphs for swallowed display, nine glyphs for explosions. An explosion consists of three rows (top, middle, and bottom) of three characters. The explosion is centered in the center of this 3 by 3 array.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

graphics

Set the character symbols used for displaying all graphics. Compound option, takes a string of up to 92 characters

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#GRAPHICS.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

monsters

Set the character symbols for displaying the monsters. Compound option, takes a string of up to 60 characters, with default values of
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ@ '&;:~]

Cannot be set in-game.

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#MONSTERS.

The order of the symbols is ant or other insect, blob, cockatrice, dog or other canine, eye or sphere, feline, gremlin, humanoid, imp or minor demon, jelly, kobold, leprechaun, mimic, nymph, orc, piercer, quadruped, rodent, arachnid or centipede, trapper or lurker above, horse or unicorn, vortex, worm, xan or other mythical/fantastic insect, light, zruty, angelic being, bat or bird, centaur, dragon, elemental, fungus or mold, gnome, giant humanoid, invisible monster, jabberwock, Keystone Kop, lich, mummy, naga, ogre, pudding or ooze, quantum mechanic, rust monster or disenchanter, snake, troll, umber hulk, vampire, wraith, xorn, apelike creature, zombie, human, ghost, golem, demon, sea monster, lizard, long worm tail, and mimic.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

objects

Set the character symbols for displaying the object classes. Compound option, takes a string of up to 17 characters, with default values of ])[="(%!?+/$*`0_.. Cannot be set in-game.

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#OBJECTS.

The order of the symbols is illegal-object (should never be seen), weapon, armor, ring, amulet, tool, comestible, potion, scroll, spellbook, wand, gold, gem or rock, boulder or statue, iron ball, chain, and venom.

See also Custom map symbols (historic)

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

prayconfirm

Prompt for confirmation before praying. A boolean, defaults to TRUE. Can be set in-game. Is saved into the savefile.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the paranoid_confirmation option.

sound

Enables messages about what your character hears. Quite a handicap if set to FALSE.

A boolean, defaults to TRUE. Can be set in-game. Is saved into the savefile. Some in-game actions, such as fainting from hunger or praying, may reset this option to TRUE. (This is presumably a bug.)

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the acoustics option.

traps

Set the character symbols for displaying traps. Compound option, takes a string of up to 22 characters, with default values of ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^"^^^^. Cannot be set in-game.

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#TRAPS.

The order of the symbols is: arrow trap, dart trap, falling rock trap, squeaky board, bear trap, land mine, rolling boulder trap, sleeping gas trap, rust trap, fire trap, pit, spiked pit, hole, trap door, teleportation trap, level teleporter, magic portal, web, statue trap, magic trap, anti-magic field, polymorph trap.

NetHack 3.6.0: This option has been superseded by the symset option.

warnings

Set the character symbols for displaying the warnings. Compound option, takes a string of up to 6 characters, with default values of 012345. Cannot be set in-game.

Can also be defined by using ASCII values instead of characters; see Custom map symbols (historic)#WARNINGS.

3.4.3-NAO

When it still hosted 3.4.3, nethack.alt.org implemented a few user interface patches that introduce new options. See also the default options file.

Options for the curses interface

See curses interface#Configuration_Options for windowtype, IBMgraphics, cursesgraphics, align_message, align_status, popup_dialog, term_cols, term_rows, windowborders, splash_screen, petattr, guicolor, mouse_support.

apexception_regex

Boolean option, defaults to off. If on, then Autopickup exceptions use regular expressions.

AUTOCOMPLETE

Which extended commands autocomplete. Prefixing the command with ! will prevent it from being autocompleted. For example:

AUTOCOMPLETE=save,!quit

BINDINGS

Key rebinding. Binding a key to nothing will remove the binding. For example:

BINDINGS=!:inventory,v:untrap

Accepts x for regular key x, mx or m-x for meta-x, cx or c-x or ^x for ctrl-x, <enter>, <space> or <esc>

bones

If off, you will never load bones files. You always have the normal chances of leaving bones. Boolean option, default is on. Can be set in-game.

botl_updates

Boolean option. If off, the status lines will not be updated, and you must use the #updatestatus to update it. Useful for blind players using a screen reader.

DUNGEONCOLOR

Allows settings the colors for dungeon features. Takes 41 numbers (between 0 and 15), separated by spaces. Order is the same as DUNGEON. For example:

DUNGEONCOLOR= 0  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7  7 7  7  7  3  3  3  3  6  2  7 0  7  15 15 3  3  7  7  11 7 4  4  6  1  3  3  3  3  6  7 4

See Colors#NetHack_color_codes.

DUNGEONSYMBOLS

Change terrain feature symbols to UTF8 characters. Only applies when UTF8graphics is on. This takes 41 Unicode codepoints, separated by spaces. Order is the same as DUNGEON.

Accepts the UTF8 characters in either U+FFFF or 0xFFFF format. See also SYMBOL for a much easier way to change a single character type (e.g., "altar") by name.

The following should give an identical output to IBMGraphics:

DUNGEONSYMBOLS = 0x0020 0x2502 0x2500 0x250C 0x2510 0x2514 0x2518 0x253C \
                 0x2534 0x252C 0x2524 0x251C 0x00B7 0x25A0 0x25A0 0x002B \
                 0x002B 0x2261 0x00B1 0x00B7 0x2591 0x2592 0x003C 0x003E \
                 0x003C 0x003E 0x005F 0x007C 0x005C 0x0023 0x2320 0x2248 \
                 0x00B7 0x2248 0x00B7 0x00B7 0x0023 0x0023 0x0020 0x0023 0x2248

This may be useful if your terminal has issues with CP437 emulation (e.g corruption on the Rogue level) or if you use a terminal that defaults to UTF-8 graphics (such as the Linux console or GNOME Terminal).

hilite_hidden_stairs

Boolean option. Hilight items with stairs under them with red background.

hilite_obj_piles

Boolean option. Hilight piles of objects with blue background.

hitpointbar

The name and rank text in status line is colored according to Statuscolors and how much HP you have left. Boolean, defaults to off.

Note that this is available in 3.4.3 with patches and in vanilla 3.6.1, but not in vanilla 3.4.3 or 3.6.0.

hp_monitor

Obsolete. NAO used to have the HPmon-patch, but uses now Statuscolors.

hp_notify

Show HP changes in the message area. Message is defined by hp_notify_fmt. Useful for blind players using a screen reader.

hp_notify_fmt

Sets the notification format for hp_notify. Compound option (a string), default value is [HP%c%a=%h].

Accepts following codes:

• %a = HP adjustment since last notification. No + or - sign
• %c = HP adjustment sign ('+' or '-')
• %h = Current HP
• %m = Max. HP
• %H = Current HP, or "max" if hp=maxhp.

item_use_menu

Allow using items directly from inventory. Boolean option, defaults to false.

menu_glyphs

Show item glyphs (colored symbols) in tty menus. Boolean option, defaults to off.

MONSTERCOLOR

Allows changing color for a monster, for example:

MONSTERCOLOR=floating eye:yellow
MONSTERCOLOR=master mind flayer:lightmagenta

Available colours: black, red, green, brown, blue, magenta, cyan, gray, orange, lightgreen, yellow, lightblue, lightmagenta, lightcyan, white.

Nethack.alt.org and UnNetHack have it applied.

MONSTERSYMBOL

Change monster symbol to UTF8 character. Only applies when UTF8graphics is on. For example:

MONSTERSYMBOL='horse':U+24FA

Accepts the UTF8 character in either U+FFFF or 0xFFFF format.

MSGTYPE

Can be used to hide obnoxious messages. On NAO, you can set OPTIONS=msgtype_regex to force MSGTYPE accept regular expressions instead of globbing.

msg_wall_hits

Boolean option. If true, mentions in the message area whenever you walk against a wall. Useful for blind players.

OBJECTSYMBOL

Change object symbol to UTF8 character. Only applies when UTF8graphics is on. For example:

OBJECTSYMBOL='apple':0x03a9

Accepts the UTF8 character in either U+FFFF or 0xFFFF format.

old_C_behavior

With this option set to true, the "C" command will work as it does in vanilla, asking you to select a monster to name. Otherwise, typing "C" will bring up the #name menu. Defaults to false.

paranoid_hit

If using the vi-keys, be cautious when moving northwest (y)- not (z)ap, around peaceful creatures. "y" is also the command to say yes to a question such as "Really attack Izchak?", and it's nearly always a good idea to answer no. Setting the paranoid_hit option (available if your game was compiled with the 'paranoid' patch) to true will help, as this will require you to explicitly type "yes" to hit peacefuls. If you're moving with (z) you end up running into something. This is a boolean option, and can be set in-game.

paranoid_quit

Requires you to type out 'yes' instead of just 'y' to confirm #quit-ting the game.

paranoid_remove

Always prompt for the letter of a jewelry/accessory item to (R)emove, even if only one is worn.

quiver_fired

Boolean option. If on, you'll quiver items if you fire them.

showborn

In dumplogs, displays the number of each type of monster created, rather than just the number killed.

showbuc

Always show BUC status if it is known. By default, "uncursed" is never shown to priests, or to anybody for most items with known charges or enchantment.

show_obj_sym

Displays the glyph for an object class in menus and allows its use as a hotkey to select all objects of that class.

A Boolean. Can be set in-game.

sortloot

Defines how inventory, floor and container contents are sorted.

STATUSCOLORS

Can be used to color HP, Pw, and other things on the status lines.

SYMBOL

Change terrain feature symbol to UTF8 character. Only applies when UTF8graphics is on. For example:

SYMBOL='altar':U+0c30

would make all altars show up as the Pi symbol (π).

Accepts the UTF8 character in either U+FFFF or 0xFFFF format. See also DUNGEONSYMBOLS.

TRAPCOLORS

Allows settings the colors for traps. Takes 22 numbers (between 0 and 15), separated by spaces. Order is the same as TRAPS. For example:

TRAPCOLORS= 6 6 7 3 6 1 7 12 4 9 0 0 3 3 5 5 13 7 7 12 12 10

use_darkgray

Use the dark gray color for black, instead of blue. Might not work for all terminals. Boolean option, defaults to off.

UTF8graphics

Use UTF-8 (characters for monsters, objects, and dungeon features. Boolean option, defaults to off. Nearly any Unicode character is allowed, however combining characters and wide characters currently do not work. Note that this also does not play well with the Curses interface.

All symbols are listed in the UTF8graphics article.

See also SYMBOL, DUNGEONSYMBOLS, MONSTERSYMBOL, and OBJECTSYMBOL.

win_edge

Boolean option. If true, all menu windows are aligned to the left side of the screen. Defaults to false.