The following information is a condensed version of the "Playing TADS
Games" section of tela design's unofficial TADS Web site. The URL for that
site is:
* Playing TADS Games *
TADS games can be run on most popular modern computers. If your machine has
at least a megabyte or two of memory, there's a good chance you'll be able
to play a game written in TADS. This is possible because TADS uses what's
known as a "machine-independent" design.
TADS games consist of two pieces - the game file itself, and a generic
"interpreter" or "runtime" program that is custom-written for each type of
computer. Think of the TADS game file as a videocassette and the
interpreter as a VCR. Once you've got the right interpreter (VCR) for your
computer you can play any TADS game (cassette) that you like.
Game files for TADS normally end in the suffix ".gam". If you get a ".gam"
file in a package you've got a TADS game file - and all you need is the
interpreter! (note: I'm just using the word "package" to describe a file
containing all the bits you need to run a TADS game - it's not a technical
term or anything)
* Version Numbers *
Over time there have been many improvements made to the TADS
interpreter, and games have been written to take advantage of those
new features. So it's quite likely that you'll find a game that works
fine with the most recent version of the TADS interpreter, but which
doesn't work with old ones. For that reason you're best off getting
the latest interpreter for your operating system. (occasionally new
games won't work with old interpreters, but that's less likely to be
the case than the reverse)
Now the confusing thing here is that there may be two version numbers
for you to deal with. There's the version of TADS itself - the
underlying code that makes up each interpreter - and then there's the
version of the particular interpreter for a given operating system.
These numbers may or may not be the same.
For example, MaxTADS is a popular TADS interpreter for the Macintosh.
At time of writing it's at version 1.1.5, but the code base it's based
on is TADS 2.5.1. However, HTML TADS for Win32 is at version 2.5.1,
and it's also based on TADS 2.5.1. Confusing.
The moral of the story is - you need to pay attention to the *TADS*
version number associated with the interpreter. The actual version
number of the particular interpreter is less important from the point
of view of playing games.
* The TADS Packages *
The TADS directory in the IF Archive contains a number of complete TADS
packages for various computer operating systems. The correct directory for
these packages is:
This site is in Germany, and access to it may be intermittent or slow if
you're coming to it from afar. Another site to check is Washington
University in the United States, which maintains a mirror of the same
material, at:
Each package contains, at a minimum, the TADS runtime interpreter. This is
the program named "tr.exe" or "trx.exe" or "tadsr" or "TADS Run-Time" or
"MaxTADS" or "WinTADS", depending on which type of computer you have.
Note that most of the packages also contain many other files and programs.
All this other stuff is *only important if you want to write games using
TADS.* You can ignore it completely if you simply want to play a TADS game!
Once again, don't be put off by the collection of weirdly-named files in
each package. You just need the TADS runtime interpreter program to play
TADS games; nothing more. (the sole exception being some of the DOS runtimes
which rely on support files with strange names like CWSDPMI.EXE.)
* Choosing and Downloading a TADS Package *
Which package you should download depends on what kind of computer you
have. Remember that the packages *must* be downloaded in binary format -
not ASCII. The chief cause of corrupted (ruined) TADS packages is someone
trying to download a file in ASCII mode. If you don't understand the
difference, try a download. If it works; great! If not, consult the
documentation for your FTP program and switch modes.
Also, the packages are all encoded using whatever compression system is
popular with your computer operating system. So PC packages for DOS users
are compressed using zip, Macintosh packages are compressed using StuffIt
and encoded with either BinHex or MacBinary, UNIX packages are compressed
or encoded using UUencode, GNU zip and tar, and so on.
If you don't understand how these compression and conversion programs work
then you should probably consult your local computer guru. It's important
to know, as you'll come across these file formats all over the Internet.
* The Packages *
Note that some of these packages have not yet been updated to the
latest version of TADS. (2.5.1 at time of writing) Some significant
changes were introduced at version 2.2.3 or so, so it's possible there
are games out there that are not playable on the existing version of
the TADS port for your computer.
ACORN:
AcornTADSruntime.spk
TADS Run-time version 2.2.1 for the Acorn, ported by Kevin Bracey.
AMIGA:
AmigaTADS250.lha
TADS version 2.5.0, ported to the Amiga by David Kinder. Archive includes
run-time, compiler and debugger.
ATARI ST:
atari.tads2exe.arc
TADS version 2.2.0.5 for Atari ST/TT/Falcon. Unfortunately, TADS 2.5.1
doesn't appear to be available to Atari users at this time.
BSDI:
tads-bsdi-251.tar.gz
TADS version 2.5.1 binaries for BSDI.
FREEBSD:
tads-freebsd-251.tar.gz
TADS version 2.5.1 binaries for FreeBSD.
IRIX:
tads-irix-251.tar.gz
TADS version 2.5.1 binaries for IRIX.
LINUX:
tads-linux-251.tar.gz
Linux binaries for TADS 2.5.1.
MACINTOSH:
HyperTADS-110.sit.bin
HyperTADS for Macintosh, a full multimedia version of the TADS interpreter
by Iain Merrick with Andrew Pontious. Allows you to view graphics and hear
sound and music along with the text.
tads240_macos.sit
TADS version 2.4.0 executables for Apple Macintosh, by Chris Nebel.
Requires System 6 or greater. Includes the full TADS set of programs -
including the interpreter used for playing TADS games and the compiler and
debugger used for writing TADS games.
MaxTADS-115.hqx
MaxTADS version 1.1.5, a TADS 2.5.1 Run-time for the Macintosh, by Andrew
C. Plotkin. Requires System 7 or greater, and does not include the compiler
and debugger used for writing TADS games. Has improved text formatting over
the standard TADS interpreter above. Note also that the source code to this
program is also posted as a "src" file. You don't need this file unless you
know the C programming language and want to know what makes MaxTADS tick.
MS-DOS:
tads32-251.zip
TADS version 2.5.1 executables for MS-DOS, 32 bit mode, by Mike Roberts.
Requires a 386 or better PC. Download this version if you want to be able to
play large games - the 16-bit version can't be used for bigger TADS epics.
tads2exx-251.zip
TADS version 2.5.1 executables for MS-DOS, 16-bit protected-mode, by Mike
Roberts. This version of TADS was built with the Borland memory extender.
As a result it doesn't work on some PCs. However it does work on 286s
whereas the 32-bit version requires a 386 or better.
tads2exe-251.zip
TADS version 2.5.1 executables for MS-DOS, by Mike Roberts. Download this
version only if you simply can't run either of the previous versions of
TADS. However, please note that large TADS games (bigger than 640K or so)
won't run under this version of the interpreter, because of memory
limitations.
pc-go32.tads2exe.zip
Dave Baggett's TADS 2.2.1.1 protected mode executables for MS-DOS running
on 386 and later CPUs, built with DJ Delorie's GO32 DOS extender. Patched
and compiled by Matthew Amster-Burton with help from Mike Roberts and the
rec.arts.int-fiction crew. *No longer being maintained.*
OS/2:
tadsos2.zip
TADS version 2.2.1 executable for OS/2, ported by Stephen Granade. Contains
a windowed version of the runtime interpreter - does not include the compiler
and support files. Download this version if you prefer a windowed interface
to plain text and don't plan on writing games. *No longer being maintained.*
tads2os2.zip
TADS version 2.2.1 executables for OS/2, ported by Stephen Granade. Text-
only, and contains the compiler and the various support files. Download this
version if you prefer a text-only interface or want to write games.
*No longer being maintained.*
SUN:
tads-sunos-251.tar.gz
TADS version 2.5.1 for Sun.
WINDOWS:
htads_playkit-251.exe
HTML TADS version 2.5.1 for Windows 9x and NT, by Mike Roberts. This
is the program you need if you want to play graphical TADS games under
Windows. Note that it doesn't work under Windows 3.x or DOS, and is
just the player's kit. The author's kit (htads_authkit-251.exe) is required
by people who want to write graphical TADS games.
WinTADS-131.zip
TADS version 2.5.1 runtime for Windows 9x and NT, ported by Stephen
Granade. Does not work under Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups
3.11 - you need the 32-bit DOS version if you're using those operating
systems. This is a windowed version of the interpreter only, and so
doesn't contain the programs needed to write games - just to play them.
OTHER UNICES:
The "unsupported" directory contains binaries for other UNIX operating
systems. Unfortunately, these runtimes are both out of date (cannot
run 2.2.6 games) and are no longer being maintained. If you want to do
something about this, note that source code for TADS is readily available.
Feel free to port away!
* Getting Help *
If you need help playing TADS games, check out the Usenet newsgroup
rec.games.int-fiction
It's the main hangout of interactive fiction (text adventure) aficionados
on the Internet, and someone there should be able to help you. Please don't
send me mail requesting help - I get tons of mail as it is. Posting your
problem to the forum above is a much better bet.
* Writing TADS Games *
If you want to learn how to write TADS games, download the full package
for your system and check out all the files within. Also be sure to
download a copy of the sample game called "Ditch Day Drifter," which
demonstrates many useful aspects of TADS.
Also be sure to check out my unofficial TADS page, which lists useful
pointers to other sites and includes a full HTML copy of the entire
TADS manual:
And there's always the game writers' forum on Usenet:
rec.arts.int-fiction
Someone there will undoubtedly be able to help you!
Have fun!
N. K. Guy, tela design
tela@tela.bc.ca
September 26, 1997.
Updated October 24, 1999.