NetHack: one of the best games ever.

I find xnethack default tileset rather ugly. Under Debian/Ubuntu (nethack-x11 package), the tileset file must be in XPM format. It's configuration is in the /etc/X11/app-defaults/NetHack file with the default xpm: /usr/share/pixmaps/nethack/x11tiles.

The file must be in XPM format, with a limited size and different color number, otherwise Nethack loading time explodes (several minutes).

Here is how to change it on Debian / Ubuntu:

  1. Example: on http://www.multifoliate.com/nh/, get the chozo32b.zip file (link: NetHack 3.4.2 (32x32) (modified by me)). Extract it to get chozo32b.bmp.
  2. Open it with Gimp, cut it to 1280x864 (to delete the black at the bottom). You can then convert it to 256 colors, then save it as XPM. It works but it's ugly.
  3. To get a better result, save it to PNG.
  4. Install imagemagick package, then convert -depth 5 chozo32b.png chozo5.png
  5. Open chozo5.png with Gimp. Then save it to XPM format.
  6. Edit /etc/X11/app-defaults/NetHack and replace /usr/share/pixmaps/nethack/x11tiles with the path to chozo5.xpm.
  7. Then, reload X ressources: xrdb -merge /etc/X11/app-defaults/NetHack
  8. Start your favorite game: xnethack

The final gzipped file: chozo5.xpm.gz

Notes:

  • convert always saves xpms in 256 colors. I don't know why.
  • head image.xpm gives you the first lines of the XPM file, with number of different colors.
  • Abigada tileset is by default in NetHack iPhone version.

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