-- $Id: README.txt,v 1.6 2002/05/18 17:22:28 cyhiggin Exp $ --
WeatherMaker 1.3.4
Copyright (C) 2002 Cynthia Higginbotham
WeatherMaker is a command-line utility to generate weather reports for role-playing games set in Earth-like worlds. It is not meant to be either an accurate or a precise simulation of climate, but it should give plausible results for the season, terrain and climate requested. It is loosely based on tables published in the 1st edition AD&D Wilderness Survival Guide; however, many features of my own have been added. Many remain to be added; see TODO.txt for things I plan to add as time allows.
INSTALLING SOURCE & COMPILING
Everybody:
0. Download the latest source from my website. (See
http://www.republicofnewhome.org/lair/games/games3.html for current version and changelog).
Linux/Unix:
- Un-tar in a working directory: tar xvzf wthrmkr-1.3.4.tar.gz
- Change to your working directory and clean up any old object files or executables: make clean
- Generate dependencies: make dep
- Build wthrmkr: make wthrmkr
- Copy the resulting wthrmkr executable to wherever you want it, like /usr/local/bin or /usr/games/bin.
Currently, WeatherMaker should compile on any system with gcc and a working implementation of libc/glibc, including all the header files (it requires getopt.h). I have only tested it on Linux 2.4 with glibc 2.2. It is single-threaded, so it should compile fine on older systems.
Optimized and stripped, wthrmkr weighs in at about 30 KB. Not bad in these days of bloatware, eh?
Windows/Cygwin:
If you're using the Cygwin environment, follow the Linux/Unix steps above. It compiles fine. Run 'strip wthrmkr.exe' manually, if desired. Copy the resulting wthrmkr.exe executable to someplace convenient. I tested it using gcc 2.95.2-6 under Cygwin 19.1001.8.
Windows/Cygwin-without-cygwin-DLL:
If you want to generate a Windows executable using the Cygwin environment that does NOT use the Cygwin DLLs, do the following:
- Un-tar in a working directory: tar xvzf wthrmkr-1.3.4.tar.gz
- Unzip wthrmkr_vs6.zip (described below) in your working directory.
- Change to your working directory and clean up any old object files or executables: make -f Makefile.nocygwin clean
- Generate dependencies: make -f Makefile.nocygwin dep
- Build wthrmkr.exe:make -f Makefile.nocygwin wthrmkr.exe
- Copy the resulting wthrmkr.exe executable someplace convenient.
Normally, you wouldn't bother doing this; if you are running the Cygwin environment, you have the Cygwin DLLs. I do this so I can distribute a legally-compiled 64K Windows executable without distributing a 600K cygwin1.dll along with it.
Windows/Visual Studio 6:
- Un-tar in your working directory. WinZip will unpack tar files.
- There should be a ZIP file, wthrmkr_vs6.zip. Unzip that in your working directory, too. It contains the Visual Studio makefile (weather.mak), dependencies file (weather.dep), project file (weather.dsp), workspace file (weather.dsw), source files for my homebrew versions of a few STANDARD C functions that Microsoft was too lame to include (stupid_microsoft.cpp, stupid_microsoft.h), a makefile for using Cygwin gcc to generate non-Cygwin exes (Makefile.nocygwin, not used by Visual Studio) and the GNU glibc source files for the getopt() and getopt_long() functions (getopt.h, getopt.c, getoptl.c), slightly hacked to compile under VS6.
- From your working directory, build wthrmkr.exe:nmake
/f weather.mak
A release version will be created in <your directory>/Release/. If you want the debug version (not optimized, has debugging symbols): nmake /f weather.mak CFG="weather - Win32 Debug"
That will create wthrmkr.exe in <your directory>/Debug/.
The workspace and project files are only needed if you want to hack around with the program in Visual Studio. If you're doing that, you probably don't need me to tell you what to do with those files. :-)
- Copy the resulting wthrmkr.exe executable somewhere convenient. I tested it using Visual Studio 6.0, SP6 on Windows NT 4.0, SP6a.
OS/2:
You should be able to hack the makefile to compile under OS/2, because that's where this program started out in the first place. I don't have it available to test with anymore, so you're on your own.
INSTALLING EXECUTABLES
- Windows
-
- Download archive of latest Windows executables from my website or other archive. Currently that is wthrmkr134-win32.zip.
- Unzip the archive; it should contain three files: wthrmkr.exe, CHANGES.txt, and README.txt.
- Read CHANGES.txt to see what has changed lately. Usage instructions are in this file, README.txt.
- Copy wthrmkr.exe somewhere convenient (in your path). Use.
USAGE
wthrmkr [options] <year>
wthrmkr -f <file> [-n <#days>] [-v] [-C] [-L]
wthrmkr -V
wthrmkr -h
-c <climate>
--clime <climate>
-t <terrain>
--terrain <terrain>
climate = A [arctic] terrain = D [desert]
SA [subarctic] F [forest]
T [temperate] H [hills]
ST [subtropical] M [mountains]
TR [tropical] P [plains]
S [seacoast]
-d <day>
--day <day>
day = 1-31 [day of the month]
-m <month>
--month <month>
month = 1-12 [month of year]
-n <days>
--number-days <days>
days = 1-9999 [ of days to report weather for]
-e <elevation>
--elevation <elevation>
elevation = 0-30000 [elevation in feet]
<year>
year = year according to campaign calendar
-f <file>
--prev-weather-file <file>
file = weather file with STATUS line (overrides cmd-line args)
-C
--metric
Display temperatures in Celsius and depths/speeds in metric
-L
--show-moon
Show current phase of the moon
-v
--verbose
Use verbose format
-F
--forgotten-realms
Use Forgotten Realms calendar
-G
--greyhawk
Use Greyhawk calendar
-V
--version
Show version, license, and exit
-h
--help
Show this help and exit
The basic idea:
You specify a starting year, and WeatherMaker generates 30 days of weather starting January 1 for a temperate plains region. What, you wanted something else? That's easy. Using command-line options, you specify a climate (-c), a terrain-type (-t), which month (-m) you want the reports to start, which day of the month (-d) you want the reports to start, how many days you want the report to run for (-n), whether you want temperatures, depths, rainfall, and windspeed displayed in English or metric units (-C), whether you want to show the phases of the moon(s) (-L), and whether you want the terse, one-line reports (default) or something a little bit prettier and easier to read (-v).
Example of default output:
Year 1359, January 1 : high: 25 F low: 10 F wind: 10 mph S
Moon: waxing crescent
Year 1359, January 2 : high: 30 F low: 15 F No wind.
Moon: waxing crescent
Year 1359, January 3 : high: 18 F low: 10 F wind: 10 mph N
Moon: waxing crescent
STATUS 2 4 0 1359 0 4 500 5 20 10 0.000000 0 0 0 S
Example of verbose output:
--------------------------- Outdoors -------------------------------------
Climate: Temperate Terrain: Plains
Year 1359, Hammer 1 to Year 1359, Hammer 3
Elevation: 500 Season: Winter
Year 1359, Hammer 1 :
high: 25 F low: 10 F with a 15 mph wind out of the W. Selune is a full moon.
Year 1359, Hammer 2 :
high: 30 F low: 15 F with a 5 mph wind out of the W. Selune is a full moon.
0.5 inches of sleet fell.
Year 1359, Hammer 3 :
high: 25 F low: 10 F with a 15 mph wind out of the W. Selune is a full moon.
STATUS 2 4 1 1359 0 4 500 6 20 15 0.000000 0 0 0 W
By default, WeatherMaker assumes that all desert and seacoast regions are at sea level, that all plains and forests are at 500 feet elevation, that all hills are 2000 feet above sea level, and that all mountains are 4000 feet up. If this doesn't quite fit your world, or at least the region of the world you want weather reports on, there is an option to specify elevation (-e). (Elevation affects temperature, if you were wondering).
The "use old file" option (-f): imagine that you use this program, and generate the weather your group is going to contend with for their 4-week wilderness journey. The output is saved in a file which you refer to from time to time (that 2 feet of snow on the ground makes the final attack on the enemy stronghold rather more interesting than your players expected.) Okay, the big fight is over, the PCs won and looted the place and decide to head home, so you decide to generate some more weather for the 4-week return trip. Hmmm... what happened to that cold snap and the 2 feet of snow on the ground? It just vanished like it never was!
If you want the weather to pick up where you left off with it, just provide your old weather file as input (-f). All other options except for number of days (-n), English/metric (-C), show lunar phases (-L), and verbose/not verbose (-v) will be ignored and read from the old file instead, as will the current weather conditions for the day before. Actually, all you need of the old weather file is the entire line starting with the word "STATUS", and it will continue to generate new weather based on the pre-existing conditions instead of starting with seasonal defaults. If you're curious as to what all those numbers are, I noted the output format for STATUS in the CHANGES.txt file when I added this feature.
If you want to see the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk month names in your report instead of the usual English ones, there are options (-F and -G) for that, too.
Please report bugs to cyhiggin@republicofnewhome.org
Finally, if you like WeatherMaker, but wish it did things a bit differently, you have two options: (1) send me e-mail explaining what changes you would like made and why they are a good idea, or (2) make the changes yourself. Please read the GNU General Public License included in the file COPYING to find out your responsibilities if you should decide to distribute your changed version, however.
WeatherMaker is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
WeatherMaker is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with WeatherMaker; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA, or visit their website at http:\www.fsf.org