XBlockOut manual (xbl 1.0k)

X Window block dropping game in 3 Dimension

Points are scored for each block that comes to rest on the gradually building up pile of blocks. When the pile reaches the top of the screen and no further blocks can be dropped the game ends. When a stage of blocks across the 3D matrix is completely filled, that stage is removed and all the blocks above are dropped down. As more stages are deleted the blocks fall faster.

There is one high score table by size of matrix and pieces types.

• The command line options. They are of 3 types:
  • The setting can be made only on command line.
  • The setting can be changed interactivly between games.
  • The setting can be changed while playing.
• The related files.
• The environment variables.
• How the animation is displayed: the buffering methods.
• The known bugs.
• Xbl Speed statistics
  • Table of results.
  • List of tested workstations.
  • List of tested X terminals.
• The TODO list.
• The general README with some game images.
• Changes from version 0.0 to the last one.
• Retrieve the latest C sources (tar'ed and compressed) in the directory xbl
• The sources are copyrighted with GPL (GNU Public Licence)
• Thanks.

Setting only on command line

-display host:0
             Gives the display name.
-help	     
             Displays the options, possible values
             and current values.
-verbose     
             Displays various things for debugging.
-colormap    
             Creates its own colormap even if unnecessary.
-visual	     
             On screen with multiple visual,
             it search the best one to use.
             In this case it doesn't use the default visual.
-bw	     
             Displays in black & white even on color display.
-buffer 0...5
             Chooses the buffering method for animation.
             Each method uses different resources.
             Speed of buffering method is hardware dependent.
             Perfect methods are: 2,1,3, choose the fast one.
-font font_name
             Chooses font for menus, score window...
-bigfont font_name
             Chooses a big font for menu:the score & high score
-buttonheight -1...16
             The height of 3D buttons.
             If your display is slow use small button.
             The -1 choice is half the height of the font.
-color 0...6
             Background color for menu window.
             0:Black 1:Red 2:Green 3:Yellow
             4:Blue 5:Magenta 6:Cyan
-sync
             Uses X Synchronise. Only for debugging.
-clearline 0...1
             0: clears line with rectangle filling.
             1: clears line with a black line.
             It's useful with some X servers that don't draw
             the same segment with the same pixels.
             Another method to avoid this problem is to
             use a linewidth equal to 1,
             though in this case drawing is slower.
-linewidth 0...16
             Thickness of the moving block lines.
-time_to_demo 1...999
             Number of seconds between
             automatic demonstration (show).
-speedtest
             This option helps you to
             find the fastest buffering mode.
-stat
             Statistics on launched blocks,
             they are displayed at the end of the game.
-keytable keys_list
	     A 18 characters list, game keys.
	     8 translations keys (D=Down L=Left R=Right U=Up):
	                  DL,L,UL,U,UR,R,DR,D
	     Rotations:   RX+,RX-,RY+,RY-,RZ+,RZ-
	     Others:      LaunchBloc CancelGame SuspendGame QuitGame
	     Don't forgot ' if there are special characters.
-fps 1...100
             Number of frames by second

Setting interactivly between games

-x 3...8 -y 3...8 -z 6...18
	World size: width, height, depth.
-land 0...2
	Some predefined world size
		0: Small land (3x3x15)
		1: Big land (5x5x10)
		2: User land (as defined by options)
-level 0...10
	Level 0 is slow, 10 is unplayable.
	This option chooses the starting game level.
	Level game increases during game.
-bloctype 0...2
	The possible piece set
		0: Only flat pieces.
		1: Some 3D pieces.
		2: All possible pieces with less or equal than 5 cubes.

Setting while playing

The following options can be modified even in the middle of a game.

-keyboard 0...4
	This switch chooses keyboard type:
		0: Use key table, given by -keytable
		1: AZERTY|
		2: QWERTY|
		3: AZERTY-
		4: QWERTY-
		5: SPATIAL is the set of keys of the spatial Tetris
-zoo
	Displays the zoo (all possible pieces) when game starts.
-score
	Displays the score table when game starts.
-draw 0 or 2
	Draw mode.
		0: for wire frame piece
		2: for transparent piece.
	On slow host, 0 is necessary.
-smooth
	Starts game with smooth drawing.
-training
	In this mode, pieces don't fall.
	By the way scores are not saved.
-shownext
	Next piece is shown.
	By the way score are multiplied by 0.7
-eyedistance
        Distance between the eyes. Use 0 to disable stereo vision

.../X11R6/lib/X11/xbl
	Directory which contains the score tables, HTML documentation and
	COPYING file (FSF GPL)
.../X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/Xbl
	Defaults for Xbl, this file only contains
	the option line for Xbl.
	xbl*args: -x 5 -y 5 -z 10 -level 0 -bloctype 2 -land 0 -draw 0 -clearline 0 \
        -buttonheight -1 -buffer 2 -keyboard 4 -keytable "14789632azqswx ^]p^C"
.../X11R6/bin/xbl
	The binary

XBLOPTIONS
	Xbl will search its options in this variable, you can put:
		XBLOPTIONS='-smooth -draw 0' export XBLOPTIONS
	in your .profile or .login file.

Animation needs various resources. Xbl offers 6 different buffering methods. Each of these methods uses different resource or has ``bugs''. Best methods use a huge amount of resources. The fastest method is hardware dependent. Try buffering methods 2, 1 and 3. They gave the best results.

Algorithms are :

buffer=0 : For each frame redraw the background and the piece. NEEDS : Nothing BUGS : Everything flicks and it's slow. buffer=1 : When background changes it's redrawn in a buffer, and this buffer goes to screen. For each frame : clears buffer draws piece in buffer copies buffer on screen on high plane NEEDS : 1 buffer, 1 colormap, 1 plane for moving piece BUGS : buffer=2 : Draws background in bufferA for each frame : copies bufferA in bufferB draws piece in bufferB copies bufferB on screen NEEDS : 2 buffers BUGS : buffer=3 : When background changes it's redrawn on screen For each frame clears planeA draws piece in planeA switches planeA and planeB by switching 2 colormaps NEEDS : 2 colormaps, 2 planes for moving piece BUGS : You see the background redrawing on change, possible problems with colormap switching buffer=4 : When background changes it's redrawn on screen For each frame clears plane draws piece on plane NEEDS : 1 colormap, 1 plane for moving piece BUGS : You see the background redrawing on change, the moving piece flicks. buffer=5 : When background changes it's redrawn in buffer, and buffer goes to screen. For each frame draws piece on screen copies buffer on screen NEEDS : 1 buffer BUGS : The moving piece flicks. If you choose -buffer -1 option, program will use buffering method 3, 2 or 1 depending on colormap capacity.

This is a comparison of the buffering modes: (most of the functions are in ``draw.c'')

+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ | buffering=0| buffering=1| buffering=2| buffering=3| buffering=4| buffering=5| +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ (NewWorld) (drawback) in all buffer mode (Expose) +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ | DrawBack | DrawBack |UpdateScreen| DrawBack | DrawBack | DrawBack | +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ (DrawBack) +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ |XClearWindow|XFillRectang|XFillRectang|XClearWindow|XClearWindow|XFillRectang| |DrawRealBack|DrawRealBack|DrawRealBack|DrawRealBack|DrawRealBack|DrawRealBack| | | XCopyArea | UpdateWork | | XCopyArea | | | |XFillRectang|UpdateScreen| | | | +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ (UpdateWork) +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ | |ClearLineBlo|ClearLineBlo|ClearLineBlo|ClearLineBlo|ClearLineBlo| | | or | or | or | or | or | | |XFillRectang| XCopyArea |XFillRectang|XFillRectang| XCopyArea | +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ (UpdateScreen) +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ | | XCopyArea | XCopyArea | Switch | | | | | | | Colormaps | | | +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ (DisplayMovingBloc) +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+ | DrawBack | UpdateWork | UpdateWork | UpdateWork | UpdateWork | UpdateWork | | DrawPiece | DrawPiece | DrawPiece | DrawPiece | DrawPiece | DrawPiece | | |UpdateScreen|UpdateScreen|UpdateScreen|UpdateScreen|UpdateScreen| +------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+------------+

If you have display problems, use -buffer 2 option, it works on any screen.
• SOUND isn't correct on some X server, no possible correction. On Sun, DECstation, Tektro, ... sound tonality doesn't change. On xfree386, sound duration isn't taken into account.
• FLICKING DISPLAY on some X server that doesn't handle XSync correctly. You can turn around using: -buffer 2 option. This is for DECstation, RISC6000, Tektronix and many others.
• DIRTY POINT on screen because some X servers don't draw the same pixels for the same segment. You can turn around using: -clearline 0 or -linewidth 1 options.
• FOCUS WINDOW doesn't work with OpenWin, so put the cursor in the game window to play. To pause the game you must use key `p'.
• DEMO mode seems to cheat (blocs going through other blocs) but it is because the visualization show a direct way (it sums all the transformations up). In fact, the real way could use very complex and tortuous indirect path.
• The program doesn't read XENVIRONMENT file.

Bugs on old systems:

• On HP9000/835/CHX problems with Tile.
• On HPUX7.0 a /bin/sh bug kills configure script if you create it with autoconf command. To turn around : Delete comments (in configure) line 2 to 6 after the last "cat <<EOF >config.status"
• On Tektronix XP terminal, some pixel from void are drawn before some text of menu button.... It's a Tektronix BUG!!!!! (they corrected it)

Speed depends on your display's hardware!

The fastest buffer mode is not the same on every display. Some buffer modes are unusable (0) or ugly (4,5). The buffer modes 1 and 2 are perfect on any screen. The buffer mode 3 is display dependent.

Results are obtained by: make speedtest Empty case if NA buffering mode. Speeds are in frames by second. Speeds >100 are very approximate.

Speed table

+----------+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------------+ | | drawmode=0 (wireframe) | drawmode=2 (faces) | | +-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------------+ | | clearline=0 | clearline=1 | | +----+-----+-----------------------+-------------------+-----------------------+ |CPU |DISPL| 0 1 2 3 4 5 | 1 2 3 4 5 | 0 1 2 3 4 5 | +----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ |486 |486 | 6| | 18| | | 17| | 13| | | 13| 5| | 14| | | 13| |586 |586 | 76| 30|166| 55| 76|250| 31|111|125|250|125| 43| 26| 90| 37| 43| 62| |715a|715a |333|333|250|500|100|500|250|100|333|100|100|142| 52| 52|166|200|166| |710a|710a |166|125|125|166|500|200|125| 50|166|333| 62|100| 6| 4|100|142|100| |715a|T330 |166|100|111| 43|250|166|142| 43| 43|250| 83| 14| 12| 13| 15| 15| 15| |Indy|Indy |166|100| 52|250|250|142|111| 66|250|250| 90|111| 62| 40|125|125| 90| |sun4|sun4 | 43| |142| | |200| | 55| | | 62| 28| | 55| | | 55| |Sun4|Sun4 |125| 90| 76|100|250|142|111| 62| 83|333| 83| 90| 38| 34| 66|200|100| |SUn4|SUn4 |142|100| 83| 62|333|142|125| 66|111|333| 83|111| 37| 34| 66|250|111| |R600|R600 |142| 43| 43|166|333| 52| 45| 27|142|250| 23| 76| 12| 12| 90|125| 43| |Digo|Digo |142|142|111|333|333|250|200|100|500|500| 66|125|100| 76|250|250|142| |Dec5|Dec5 | 50| 62| 90| 37| 58|125| 55| 55| 76|250| 76| 33| 40| 38| 22| 37| 58| +----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

List of tested workstation

486: CPU HARDWARE = 486SX25 w/o FPA VIDEO CARD = VGA 65530 SYSTEM = LINUX 0.99pl9 (SLS 1.02) X SERVER = XFree386 1.2, VGA2 generic, non-banked COMPILER = GCC 2.3.3 with -O2 option NOTES = Needs ``-clearline 0'' option 586: CPU HARDWARE = Pentium 90 VIDEO CARD = SVGA PCICL5434 SYSTEM = LINUX 1.1.73 X SERVER = XFree386 3.1, SVGA clgd5434, 8 planes COMPILER = GCC 2.5.8 with -O2 option NOTES = Bug in colormap switching, don't use buffer=3 715a: CPU HARDWARE = HP9000/715/75 VIDEO CARD = CRX SYSTEM = HPUX 9.03 X SERVER = 24planes (using 8) COMPILER = cc 710a: CPU HARDWARE = HP9000/710/50 SYSTEM = HPUX 8.07 X SERVER = 8planes COMPILER = cc Indy: CPU_HARDWARE = INDY, IP22 mips SYSTEM = IRIX 5.2 X SERVER = 8planes COMPILER = cc NOTES = Needs ``-clearline 0'' option Digo: CPU_HARDWARE = INDIGO 2 IP22 mips SYSTEM = IRIX 5.2 X SERVER = 24planes (using 8) COMPILER = cc NOTES = Needs ``-clearline 0'' option sun4: CPU_HARDWARE = SPARC2 (sun4c) SYSTEM = SunOS 4.1.2.2 X SERVER = 1plane COMPILER = cc Sun4: as "sun4" X SERVER = 8planes SUn4: as "Sun4" COMPILER = cc -O R600: CPU HARDWARE = RISC 6000 (uname -a gave: 000004153000) SYSTEM = AIX 3.2 X SERVER = 8planes COMPILER = cc Dec5: CPU_HARDWARE = DEC station 5000/200 SYSTEM = ULTRIX 4.4.0 X SERVER = 8planes COMPILER = cc NOTES = Needs ``-clearline 0'' option

List of tested X terminals

T330: X SERVER = 8 planes, Tektronix XP330 Version: 6.0.0

Some generic question or goal:
• Why there is problems with XFREE VGA16 on LINUX for drawing polygon on pixmap?
• Why on 1 LINUX system XTranslateGeometry kill the twm and fvwm?
• With OpenWin: find how to receive the focus event.
• Find how to receive the destroy window event.
• A best Sound (with rplay or another standard).
• Add a key as `space' but pushing piece only one level.

For the future versions:

• For version 2.0: Obstacles.
• For version 3.0: Two players extension.

0.0 --> 0.1 Uses only 4 planes for buffering=1 option. Color Legend. A little bit of sound. Displays next piece. 0.1 --> 0.2 Best choice of the grey level. Changing piece type doesn't change world size. Possibility to change font. Displays the zoo, and adds some missing pieces. Options to see score and zoo. Displays frame/second number. Uses ``autoconf'' to create ``configure'' Accelerates line block moving, clearing the block by redrawing line. Adds various buffering mode. buffer=-1 mode for automatic choice. Uses less plane for black and white option. Adds a button to choose keyboard. 3D buttons and background color choice. Uses Keypad on Sun. 0.2 --> 0.2a Only bug correction: Uses a STDLIB_H define to include <stdlib.h> Doesn't core dump if copyright file isn't install. Checks if fonts can be loaded. 0.2a --> 0.2b For score table, tries to get name with: getlogin,cuserid,getenv("LOGNAME"),getenv("USER") Checks if default font can be loaded. Error message if ``lockf'' fails. Debug ``-display'' and ``-geometry'' options. Adds ``shar'' goal in ``Makefile.in'' 0.2b --> 0.2c Doesn't use "lockf" if F_LOCK is not defined. Uses "xmkmf" or "imake" informations if they exist. 0.2c --> 0.2d Adds man pages. Doesn't stop game after one play if score directory isn't installed 0.2d --> 0.2e Now works on: Grayscale,StaticGray,StaticColor,TrueColor, On DirectColor: displays in black and white. Modified defaults options ("Xbl.ad") to increase portability and speed Improved scoring method (Fibonacci function of level) 0.2e --> 0.2f New menu window with real three D buttons The zoo only shows possible piece (FLAT,COMPLEX,PIECE) The iconify button is now taken into account. 0.2f --> 0.2g The BELL is reset after each game sound. Speed test for help choosing the good buffer mode added. Only uses GCFunction=GXCopy: it's 10 times faster than other..... 0.2g --> 0.2h Removes some LINT errors Creates "Xbl.iafa" Displays an "Xbl message" on X11 error (for the BadAlloc) and explains how to use less X11 memory. Computes minimum "select" time. But this was cancelled (bad idea) The "cancel key" is ^] and not ^[, some keyboards have an ESC key near the game key... it's terrible to cancel a good game... 0.2h --> 0.2i Adds message on game window: "To start or resume game....." Ports to LINUX(SLS, 486SX25 w/o FPA), removes GCC -Wall warnings You can now use Cursor key to translate block. Changes the rotation display, they are now much prettier. Now takes resource "font". Adds the -1 value for button height (font dependent) Reduces DRASTICALLY the number of floating point operations. Adds the "spatial" buttons. Adds options -zoogeometry -menugeometry -scoregeometry Gives the current command line to the Window Manager (with all options) Able to display on non-default screen. Displays score in the game window title. Removes all keypress in the input queue when a new game start Removes a nice bug! When you continuously stroke "space" key the block floated over the floor!!!!! Max size for menu and score window and fixed ratio for zoo window 0.2i --> 0.2j New help with the picture of a cube 0.2j --> 0.2k Adds linewidth option. Adds demo mode. Now works on a visual with a number of color cells not a power of 2 Correct the search of a best visual, it now work.... see BUGS 0.2k --> 1.0 TIME_TO_DEMO is now an option Remove a bug in options scanning Add iso8859 for the fonts Add "sys/select.h" detection for AIX 1.0 --> 1.0a Remove some warning. Bug found by martin@oc2.oc.chemie.th-darmstadt.de (Martin Kroeker) The "setargs" function crash the game & window manager 1.0a --> 1.0b Look the value returned by "XrmGetResource" not the pointer value. Turn around a bug in "menu.c" who need to be corrected (LINUX) No more core-dump on Berkeley system if DISPLAY isn't set Bug found by Ken-Ju Jung <kjung@decster.uta.edu> 1.0b --> 1.0c The option abbreviation are no more valid (option.c) Bug found by Harro Kremer <kremer@cs.utwente.nl> 1.0c --> 1.0d Remove all lint warnings (Silicon's lint is the best) Remove "gcc -Wall" warning except those for "printf" format Now the -colormap option really works!!! In the makefile, "\"" make an error on few "csh", remove it. 1.0d --> 1.0e Only a complet documentation change: use HTML file. 1.0e --> 1.0f Remove an INSTALLATION bug, due to coexisting release of X11. reuben@rutcor.rutgers.edu (Reuben J. Settergren). 1.0f --> 1.0g Small enhancement in documentation. "configure" is now executed with "/bin/sh" 1.0g --> 1.0h Keyboard decoding is rewrote to consider the case where XK_KP_Left is named XK_Left (and the other cursor keys) 1.0h --> 1.0i Problem with space in font name corrected. Thanks to Richard Skelton 1.0i --> 1.0j Add the trademark on Blockout 1.0j --> 1.0k Fix a missing block shape and a duplicate one. Thanks to Nerius Landys Some installation process enhancement. The default group install is the GID of "games". Realtime: less bugs, nicer, use less CPU, choose FPS. Stereovision (You cross the eyes to see in 3D) Small delay before the start of a new game.

I thank all the people who gave me ideas, help, bugs:
Thomas.Chaboud@eurocontrol.fr (Thomas Chaboud)
jwz@lucid.com (Jamie Zawinski)
mqh@mqh.cit.cornell.edu (Mike Hojnowski)
g1berand@cdf.toronto.edu (Leung Chung Shing Anderson)
lemke@lupine.uucp (Dave Lemke)
nlandys@nerius.com (Nerius Landys)
And many others.