Stendhal FAQ: Difference between revisions

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There is both a [[StendhalManual|manual]] and a [[BeginnersGuide|beginner's guide]] that may be helpful.

== Player vs Player ==

; Is player killing allowed?

: It is not forbidden, though there are some exceptions, the [[StendhalRuleSystem | Rule System]] will explain the details.

; What is the red skull next to some players?

: It means they killed or helped kill another player. It's a warning to let others know.

; What is a protected area? What do the pale green areas on minimap mean?

: In a protected area (marked pale green on the minimap) you can't attack another player. New players need a chance to explore before being jumped on, after all.

; What does it mean when I get a message about an aura stopping me attacking someone?

: That means they are in a protected area and thus you are unable to attack them.

; Why do I get a message saying 'Your conscience would trouble you if you carried out this attack' on some players but not others?

: Outside protected areas, where everyone is protected, players may only attack others if their level is not significantly lower than their own. You can defend yourself from any attack by a player, though. So be aware if you are low level and attacking a high level player, they have the ability to hit you back!

; What is the exact rule for which players I can attack outside a protected zone?

: You can only attack if their strength is greater than or equal to (your strength) * 0.75, or if they are already attacking you. Player strength is defined as: 0.73 * (ATK + DEF) + level. Equipment is not taken in account.

; Help! Player X wants to kill me!

: Stay in a protected zone like [[Semos]] City, [[Semos Dungeons]], Semos Forest and Semos Plains. The areas you are safe are marked with pale green on the minimap.

; Help! Player X wants to kill me and I don't want to stay in the city for the rest of my life!

: Firstly check if that player would actually be able to attack you using the formula above. (If he is much higher level than you, it's unlikely). If you're still worried, just play in the protected areas. There are plenty places you can find monsters which are still protected, like Semos Dungeons.

; I got marked with a red skull, how do I remove it?

: Go and see <npc>Io Flotto</npc> in [[Semos]] Temple. If she already has taught you the rules of telepathy she will automatically notice your marking. If she hasn't taught you telepathy yet, you will need to learn from her then start another conversation.

; I got a red skull because I killed someone but we were training, that's not fair it's not the same ...

: One of the risks of training is that you accidentally kill your partner. It's right that training has risks as well as benefits. Also, one could argue that if you could not watch carefully the person you were training with, you are still a danger. In the end it's your mistake that you killed someone and you cannot complain to us that it meant you were marked with a skull. If you were 'smart' enough to train you should have been 'smart' enough to know the risks.

; Why does <npc>Carmen</npc> say I have a bad aura?

: You must have attacked another player recently. You can't get free healing for a while but you can pay for healing (for example to <npc>Ilisa</npc> or <npc>Jynath</npc>)

; Can I avoid getting a bad 'aura' or a red skull when I'm just training?

: Yes, train by gaining experience in battles with monsters, not by hitting other players.

: Basic information like that is in the [[StendhalManual | Stendhal Manual]] - but start with keyword ''offer'' and then ''buy/sell item''.

== Player social problems ==

; Another player is annoying me with messages all the time, what can I do?

: Use <code>/ignore playername</code> and you will not receive public or private messages from them any longer.

; Another player is being abusive, by swearing at me, can you help?

: Please use <code>/ignore playername</code> as above.

; I was training and another player killed my creatures please jail him.

: Please see the related rule from the [[StendhalRuleSystem | Rule System]] for advice on this matter.

; Another player pushed me into a dangerous place

: If someone is pushing you against your will, run away - just like in real life! If you can't run then you can use a scroll or logout. If you were away and got pushed, that is your own responsibility. Please keep an eye on your character and if you are going to be away from the computer, put yourself in a safe zone. You can't be pushed into portals or past zone boundaries so you should be ok if you chose a safe place to rest.

; Another player is following me around and it is bothering me.

: That sounds tricky. Probably there is not very much that can be done to help you, as it's not an offence, as such. Here are some tips:

:* Try using scrolls to teleport yourself away where you can't be followed

:* Go to a place where they are too low level to follow/they don't have key or quest access to yet

And hope that they find a more interesting past time soon.

; Another player is following me to places where he couldn't survive alone, he's then looting from the corpses of a high level creature attacked me, that I killed, and he couldn't kill alone.

: Don't give parasites a second chance. The next high level creature they follow you to will kill them if you

:* Log out, or

:* Don't attack it, and move a little away so it selects to attack them, or

:* Change zone

Of course it would be polite (and best, please) to warn them in advance you will do this if they loot from you, as prevention is better than cure.

; My name in game is Nickname and another player has created a character Nickname_ or Nickname2 and is impersonating me, please help.

: Let <code>/support</code> know and we will try to investigate to help you.

; I have tried everything you suggest and I don't know what to do, it's not getting any better.

: We can only suggest you simply avoid the player. This may mean avoiding playing until they get bored. A good tip is to try not to let it show that you're affected, and they'll get bored sooner.

; What can I do to improve the community?

: Please take a look at the guidelines in [[Stendhal Helper Role]]. We also find that [[Navigation_for_Stendhal_Contributors|contributing]] to the game itself is a great way to give back to the community and to feel good.

: Your corpse will be where you died for the next ten minutes so you can get your items back if noone else looted it first.

== Quests and Quest Rewards ==

[[File:Questlog91.png|thumb|300px|Travel log of Quest progress and Production activity]]

; How can I track my quest progress?

: There is a Travel Log with a lot of detail on each Open or Completed quest - please open it by using the Menu buttons as shown right:

; How do I find X item?

: Please listen to the details which an NPC will tell you, or check your Travel log. Otherwise, you may need to use some thought or investigation by yourself or with friends to find the item. [http://stendhalgame.org/item/ our server website] may have some information to help you.

; I would like to learn more about the quests and don't mind spoilers, are they documented?

: The travel Log (above) has a lot of information, and out of game, our [[StendhalQuest | Stendhal Quests page]] may help you.

; I tried to enter a portal and it said I can't go down there, why?

: Some portals are quest related and until you start the quest by talking with the right person, you can't go in. It can also be that your level restricting you.

; Why do you limit access to portals just because you haven't started quest yet?

: For safety of low level players, mainly.

; When I look at an item the description includes these words: 'It is a special quest reward for NAME and cannot be used by others' - what does that mean?

: The item cannot be picked up by players other than NAME.

; What if I die and I lose my reward item?

: Most reward items are bound to the player in the way described above, these items cannot be dropped when you die.

; I want to sell my quest reward to another player, can I?

: It's bound to be used by you only, so you cannot sell to a player however an NPC may buy it.

; My clone got a quest reward, can I use it with my main character?

: No. You can only use what you earned with each character.

; I completed the angel quest but all I got was a rubbish XXX! How do I get the other really excellent YYY?!

: Try killing creatures. Some of the stronger ones have good drops like an excellent YYY.

; The daily monster quest creature I was asked to kill is in an area that I cannot get to yet, this seems unfair.

: You have a few options:

:: Wait a week and request another creature

:: Ask for help from friends and travel in a group

:: Try a [[StendhalFAQ#Death Match|deathmatch]] (as the name suggests, this is dangerous, it is recommended to go with friends and take plenty of potions)

== Creatures ==

; I can't find X creature where is it?

: Try asking <npc>Starkad</npc> ([[Semos]] Plains South) for information on the creature. If he doesn't know where you could find it, there are no natural instances of that creature in the game. If you need it for your Mayor Sakhs task, try the Death Match challenge..

; Can you tell me how much time until creature Z respawns?

: No, because this is random. Each turn there is the same chance a given creature will respawn, no matter when it was last killed.

; I killed a creature and am waiting for it to respawn. Why have I waited longer than the respawn time given on the website?

: Respawns are random, with low level creature like rats having a high chance to respawn within a short time. Rarer creatures have are not likely to respawn in a short time (but they could!). The respawn time on the website means that if you wait that long, it's more likely that the creature should have respawned, but there's also a (small) chance you might have to wait much longer.

: That's when you are unkind, e.g. refusing to help others.

: Technical help, bug reports, but not social problems.

== Passwords ==

; How do I change my password?

: You can change it by logging in at http://stendhalgame.org - see [[HowToChangeAccountPassword | How to pick a new secure password and get it changed]] for more details.

; Help, I forgot my password!

: Please create a new account (with a good and memorable password) and contact ''/support'' explaining that you forgot your old password, providing the original account name. An admin will try to contact you on the email address you specified when creating the original account.

: If you can prove your identity this way, a server admin will merge your old account into this new account (which you know the password for). Please be patient as this requires a high level admin to deal with the issue.

: In future you'll be able to login with the new account you just created, and select your old characters.

; My friends know my password and my stuff has gone missing, please get it back.

: The log in message warns you of the importance of password security. It's your responsibility to keep your password secret even from friends. Your stuff will not be retrieved.

; My friends guessed my password because it was easy to guess, and my stuff has gone missing, get it back.

: See above and pick a more secure password next time.

; Player AAA wants to know my password, he says he is an admin. Should I tell him?

: Never tell your password to anyone (that includes admin!). It's most likely this person is impersonating an admin (though you can check, as explained above.) Report this person to <code>/support</code> please. And remember not to tell your password to anyone!

; Hi, My name is Laalaa2 and my password is OpenSesame but I want it changed to CloseSesame ...

: Never tell anyone your password! That includes, don't tell it to <code>/support</code>! Please change it using the website as described above.

; I shared my password, why did I get jailed / banned?

: You will be jailed for your own safety until you change it. Or, you might be banned indefinitely (depending on circumstance). Investigating such cases waste a huge amount of contributor resources. So, remember NEVER tell your password to anyone, not family members, lovers, friends, noone.

; I had my password saved as login profile and someone else had access to my computer and I lost items. Please help.

: Please, only save passwords on machines which you have unique access to. If other people use the same machine consider making a user account for yourself and logout or lock the screen whenever you will be away. All good OS support this.

<span style = "color:grey">

: It sounds like an arrest warrant was placed for you. The message is supposed to be sent to you explaining the reason and time but it can be lost. Please, if you need details do ask /support but please ask nicely. If someone is available they will search back to find out why you were jailed and how long for. If noone answers please just be patient and try again later.

</span>

; How do I avoid going offline because of an Out Of Memory Error?

: *If you already start your client from a ''command line'' this is easy. You will be starting it like

java -jar /path-to/stendhal-0.XX.jar

: so replace this with

java -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Xmx200m -jar /path-to/stendhal-0.XX.jar

: or a bit higher than 200MB if you have plenty memory.

: *If the game does crash again with an out of memory error, a file ending with <code>.hprof</code> is created in the current directory, we would love to see this file to diagnose the error, so please join {{irc-arianne}} so that we can get it from you.

: *If you use windows and you normally start stendhal by double clicking on the stendhal-0.XX.jar icon we have a bit of work to do. Open a text editor (NotePad will do) and paste in the line

java -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Xmx200m -jar stendhal-0.XX.jar

: then save this as a document called start.bat, in the same directory as the stendhal-0.XX.jar icon which you normally double click. Now to start the client you double click start.bat. You'll see a DOS prompt open and then the client will load as normal. If this hasn't worked the likely reason is that Windows is hiding your file extensions, so that your text file has been saved as start.bat.txt and isn't recognised as a batch file, and your client is only referred to as stendhal-0.XX as the .jar is hidden. Anyway, to fix this try one of the guides found by googling ''windows unhide file extensions'' such as [http://support.mfm.com/support/std_procedures/unhidefileextensions.html] for up to Windows XP and [http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/1269/vista_show_unhide_file_extensions/] for Vista. <small>Disclaimer: external sites are not our responsibility and are not necessarily tested, written or maintained by the Stendhal team. What you do to your own computer is your responsibility</small>.

; Everyone says the server is really lagging. We're getting 'instant replays'.

: If everyone from different areas in the world has the problem, it could be that the server needs a restart. It's likely some players have already requested it but if you don't see any of the admin/old players online then feel free to send a message to /support. (Server admin aren't around 24/7 so if there's a delay in getting it restarted that is why.)

: It could be that [http://ping.eu/ your connection to the host stendhalgame.org] is slow. Or it could be more generally that [http://just-ping.com/index.php?vh=stendhalgame.org&c=&s=ping! the connection of your area of the world to the server] has a slow link somewhere. In any case, ''max. rtt'' -Round Trip Time- should be under 300.

: You can [[SubmitBug | Submit a bug]] yourself, or if you want advice or help before you do this, ask <code>/support</code>.

; There was a server crash and now I'm back to where I started yesterday / There was a server crash and I died!

: In the past your progress was only saved on log out, rather than incrementally while you play. But starting with Marauroa 2.3 the progress is saved every 10 minutes. So you may still lose a little progress, but not complete days anymore.

: Stendhal requires Sun Java or OpenJDK, which is freely available, If you don't have it already you can install it. If you have any trouble see [[InstallingInLinux]].

: No. Stendhal uses a software called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Web_Start Java Web Start] which allows users to start Stendhal directly from the Internet using a web browser. However:

: Stendhal still needs to use [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_SE Java] to run.

: Stendhal gets actually downloaded to your computer.

: Stendhal can be subsequently started from your computer without the need to use your browser, though you can still do that too.

: C:\Documents and Settings\{useraccount}\ on Windows XP

: ~/ on GNU/Linux systems

*[[StendhalManual|The Stendhal user manual]]

*[[Stendhal | Back to Stendhal main wiki page]]

[[Category:Stendhal]]