Free Hero Mesh is a puzzle game engine for turn-based grid-based puzzle
games. You can define your own classes of objects using the Free Hero
Mesh programming language.

It is also designed to be compatible with MESH:Hero puzzle sets, which
must be converted to Free Hero Mesh using the provided "mbtofhm" program.
However, Free Hero Mesh adds a lot of new features and bug fixes compared
with MESH:Hero.

It is available in a Fossil repository; there are two sources:

* Main: http://zzo38computer.org/fossil/heromesh.ui

* Mirror: http://chiselapp.com/user/zzo38/repository/freeheromesh

(The main source is more often updated. The changes to the main copy will
occasionally be pushed to the mirror. Contributions are not accepted at
the mirror directly; they must be made in the main repository first.)

There is also a mirror on GitHub:

* Mirror: https://github.com/zzo38/freeheromesh

(Note that I cannot accept pull requests on GitHub. You are free to write
them, although they cannot be merged; however, they will be reviewed and
then may be manually entered into the fossil repository.)


=== Installation ===

Currently, there isn't much of this; contributions will be accepted.
There is a shell script for compiling it available, though.

Requirements:

* Linux (it should hopefully work on other POSIX systems, although this is
untested; it might use some Linux-specific functions and/or GNU-specific
functions; I may be willing to accept contributions if this can be fixed).

* SQLite version 3 (a recent version). Add a symlink to the sqlite3.h and
sqlite3.o files into the same directory with the source files (or you can
compile it from source with the desired options; the default options will
do, although it is safe (and is recommended) to omit the deprecated
functions and to set SQLITE_DQS=0).

* SDL1.x (the compatibility layers have not been tested with this
software; if you have tested it please report it, and you may contribute
patches to fix it).

* A C compiler, with GNU extensions (tested with GCC; it has not been
tested with Clang, but I expect it to work; report it if it doesn't work).

* If you wish to alter some of the files, Node.js or a compatible
JavaScript runtime is required for compiling these files (you do not need
this if you do not wish to modify Free Hero Mesh).

* Colour display, with resolution at least 640x480 (preferably more), and
at least 256 colours.

* Keyboard and mouse, with three mouse buttons (the mouse wheel is not
needed and is not used, but it is OK if you have it).

The distributor should edit man6/heromesh.str in order to correctly
specify the directory containing the documentation files. (This does not
affect the working of Free Hero Mesh itself; it only affects the man page.)

Before using it, you must create a file called .heromeshrc in your home
directory; you may use default.heromeshrc to start with, and then customize
it as you wish.

If compiled with "./compile p" then it is installed as "bin/heromesh"
(relative to the current directory, which should be the directory where
the source files are) and installs "bin/current.heromeshrc" as well (if it
does not already exist; it won't overwrite an existing file). In this case,
it can be used as a "portable app" mode.

If compiled with "./compile" without "p", then it is installed in the "bin"
subdirectory of your home directory, by default. You can set the EXE
environment variable to override this.

You may edit comconfig.h (based on details on comconfig.doc) if you wish to
customize some of the compile options (other than those which are part of
the compiler itself, and the options mentioned above).

There are optional runtime features that may require other programs in
order to use them, but that you can ignore if you do not use them. Such
optional features include:

* If you want to import/export pictures, you will need an implementation
of farbfeld. ImageMagick 7 includes an implementation of farbfeld, so if
you have that, then that will work. There are also other implementations,
such as the original "farbfeld" package, and Farbfeld Utilities.

* If you want to use the clipboard functions, you will need xclip or some
other program to interact the clipboard with stdin/stdout.

(The X window system is not necessarily required; you can use any system
that can be used with SDL.)


=== Documentation ===

Free Hero Mesh includes the following documentation files (plain text):

* ARCHITECTURE: Describes the source code of Free Hero Mesh. This is only
relevant if you wish to modify Free Hero Mesh, or if you want to look up
something in the code and want to know what file to look at.

* FAQ: Frequently questions.

* PORTING: Describes considerations for anyone who will distribute the
program, include it in package managers, port it to other systems, etc.

* README: This file. Describes how to find the Fossil repository, the
installation, documentation, discussion/community.

* bindings.doc: Describes the configuration of key/mouse bindings.

* class.doc: This document describes the Free Hero Mesh programming
language. Read this if you want to define your own classes of objects.

* codepage.doc: Describes the use of code pages and the file format of the
codepage.har file.

* comconfig.doc: Compile-time configuration options.

* commandline.doc: Describes the command-line arguments. The man page
also describes the command-line arguments, although the commandline.doc
file has a more elaborate description.

* config.doc: Describes the configuration options for Free Hero Mesh.

* edit.doc: Describes the use of the level editor.

* export.doc: The level export format is described in this file; it can
be used for importing as well as exporting.

* fileformat.doc: Documents the file formats. Most users will not need
this document.

* game.doc: Describes the game play and the controls for the game play.

* man6/heromesh.6: Man page; includes information about command-line
arguments, environment variables, and link to further documentation.
(You should install this in your man pages directory.)

* man6/heromesh.str: Must be installed in the same directory as the
man6/heromesh.6 file. The distributor should change this to point to
the correct directories where the files are stored; these directories
will be mentioned in the man page

* misc/compare/*.doc: Comparison with other puzzle game engines, such as
Everett Kaser's MESH:Hero engine. (Read these files if you are used to
other game engines and want to know the differences.)

* misc/mbform.doc: Describes the .mb file format for Hero Mesh. (Not
directly relevant to Free Hero Mesh. It contains information that was
used for writing the converter, and may be of interest to some readers
for other purposes, but is neither used nor does it contain anything
that is needed for users or developers of Free Hero Mesh.)

* picedit.doc: Describes the picture editor.

* puzzleset.doc: Describes what makes up a puzzle set.

* sql.doc: This file lists and documents each of the SQL functions and SQL
tables that are available. This is not relevant to programming the rules
of the game; it is used for user customization, and for performing batch
operations when editing, and for producing reports.

* tutorial.doc: Tutorial documentation.


=== Other files ===

Free Hero Mesh also includes the following other files, which are not the
source code files, compilation files, or documentation files:

* codepage.har: Contains fonts for code pages. Code page 437 is included
inside of the executable file and does not need this file; this file is
only needed for code pages other than 437.

* default.heromeshrc: An example configuration file which you can customize
for your own use. You should at least set the proper paths to the files.

* hash.c and hash.h: A library for cryptographic hash calculation. This is
compiled into Free Hero Mesh, but can also be used in other programs
independently of Free Hero Mesh. (Note that some algorithms it implements
are considered to be insecure, but are included for compatibility with
formats/protocols that use them.)

* imgtofhm.c: Converts pictures into the Free Hero Mesh format. The command
line arguments are: the maximum number of pictures, the lump name prefix,
and then the transparency colour (in hex format) (optional). It receives
the pictures in farbfeld format in a vertical strip from stdin, and writes
the Hamster archive to stdout (which can be appended to a .xclass file).

* mbtofhm.c: Converter from Everett Kaser's MESH engine into Free Hero
Mesh. Give the base name of the output files as the command-line argument,
and receives the .mb file from stdin.

* misc/har.c: A small C program for dealing with Hamster archives. This is
not properly a part of Free Hero Mesh (and is not needed in order to use
or compile Free Hero Mesh), but is included since it is likely to be useful
for some users (e.g. to copy pictures/sounds between puzzle sets).

* misc/sokoban.tar.gz: Example puzzle set.

* smallxrm.c and smallxrm.h: This is an implementation of the X resource
manager which is used in Free Hero Mesh but can also be used in other
programs independently from Free Hero Mesh.

(The files in the misc/ directory are not part of Free Hero Mesh nor are
they needed by Free Hero Mesh, but are provided for convenience. They can
safely be ignored or deleted if you are not using them.)


=== Community/discussion ===

For discussion of Free Hero Mesh, use the NNTP server. This is a newsgroup
in the zzo38computer.org NNTP server, named:

  un2.org.zzo38computer.soft.freeheromesh

You may use it for:

* Announcements about Free Hero Mesh

* Questions about the use of Free Hero Mesh

* Questions about the implementation of Free Hero Mesh

* If you made up your own puzzle sets, to link to them

* To comment on other puzzle sets

* Bug reports

* Feature requests

* Patches

* Contributions to documentation, including this file

* Anything else related to Free Hero Mesh, that I may have missed

You may also post bug reports and feature requests using the ticketing
system on the Fossil repository, or using the GitHub issues and pull
requests. However, note that the GitHub can only be used by those who
have a GitHub account, so the NNTP may be preferable.

There is also the IRC channel #freeheromesh on Libera. Logs of this IRC
are available at:

  https://logs.esolangs.org/libera-freeheromesh/

(There was previously a Matrix chat as well, but Libera has removed the
Matrix chat for now. If someone else who uses Matrix sets up a plumbed
Matrix chat to connect to the IRC (please contact me for details), then
I will mention that here.)


=== License ===

Free Hero Mesh is public domain. See the LICENSE file for details.