MysteryHack (Ray Dunn's hack) ----------------------------- Someone, who came across my own port of hack, sent this to me many years ago, retrieved from an old floppy disk. To play the game you'll need to unzip the following files into a single folder on your DOS machine: missing files.zip <--- Needed for the help and scoring system old hack.zip <--- The unmodified file I received Inside the .exe I found the following message (also stored in saved games): Sunday 22-MAR-1987 - Ray Dunn, Montreal. Nethack was first released by Mike Stephenson on July 28, 1987. There are five (5) missing help files (see below), that were deleted to make room for two saved games. The RECORD file was also missing (it must exist for scores to be kept). I have included replacement files taken from PC Hack 3.60. I have seen no mention of this game anywhere on the internet or in old newsgroup posts, even though Mr. Dunn apparently posted in the latter frequently in the late 1980s about DOS and C programming. I believe this is likely the author's facebook page, the connections being that he worked for Phillips Electronics in Canada, and that he was a DOS and C programmer--both facts noted in his usenet posts: https://www.facebook.com/raymondunn Comparing what I call this "MysteryHack" with Hack 1.0.3 (the last version before NetHack) I made a list of changes (see below). Donnie Russell II https://sites.google.com/site/donnierussellii/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This version of Hack features animation, a real-time play option (at variable speeds) and PC speaker sound effects and music Uses a Microsoft C Library from 1986 A new "Down-And-Out" class was added, and a Witch as the female complement of a Wizard (a Cave-woman was already present in Hack 1.0.3) Doors and keys are present in the game You can play another game without exiting and re-executing the .exe (very interesting, since this seems like a very difficult thing to implement based on what I've seen of hack's source code). Game messages are loaded from the encrypted file: HACKMSGS I don't know the encryption Bones and saved games have filenames in the format: BONES_{LevelNumber} S_{PlayerName} Two saved files are included The following files were missing from the archive I was sent: (they were deleted from the floppy disk to save space; I have tried to recreate them from PC Hack 3.60 of 1986) CHELP DATA HELP NHELP OHELP RECORD No new monsters Some monsters can unlock and open doors In addition to monsters being invisible they can be: mutant Siamese twin Added food items: dead parrot talking slug chocolate coin Tins can contain SPAM, accompanied by song and animation Added weapons: blow-pipe stick of dynamite lit stick of dynamite Added tools: match crystal ball heavy ball of glass key Added armor: pointed hat shiny pair of boots life-jacket Added potions: deafness intuition sensory deprivation x-ray vision sloth stability deodorant Added potion colors: pale mauve fluorescent Added scrolls: intuition anger remembrance trap detection Missing scroll title: KIRJE Added scroll title: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN Added wands: charging attraction repulsion probing Added wand descriptions: golden striped No added rings or ring descriptions Gems with modified names (brackets indicate added text): [sparkling] diamond [glowing] ruby Added gem descriptions: crystal plastic mineral salt Added gem colors: clear translucent