ManaPlus Client

ManaPlus was forked off of the original Mana Client to provide many additional features. It replaced Mana as the official client of The Mana World. Since it has it's own wiki, we won't provide a detailed explaination of every feature here.

This article is a quick and dirty run-through of some common features. Feel free to improve it as necessary.

Developer and Website

• Website: http://manaplus.org/
• Lead Developer: 4144
• Getting Support:
  • Ask another player
  • Forum thread
  • IRC (chat.freenode.net channel #manaplus)
  • Whisper 4144 in game

All bugs should be reported to 4144 or mentioned in the IRC channel.

Operating System Support

The following operating systems are supported:

• Windows
• Mac OS X
• Android (Beta)
• Linux, with pre-built packages and source code listed on http://manaplus.org/

Getting Started

When you first run ManaPlus, it will do some tests to auto-detect the best video settings. When this is done, you will be presented with a login screen. To log in to the game:

1. Click The Mana World and click Connect.
2. Type in your user name and password (cAsE sEnSiTiVe). Click Login or push Enter or Return on your keyboard.
   • If you don't have an account, click Register instead and fill out the form.
   • If you wish to read any update news, change "Update" from Auto Close to Normal.
3. ManaPlus will check for and download updated game content. When it's finished, if you had set "Update" to "Normal", click Play.
4. You may now select a character and click Play. To create a character:
   1. Click an empty space.
   2. Click Create.
   3. Give the character a name.
   4. Use the arrows to customize the hair color and style.
   5. Use the sliders to set some initial stats (explained here).
5. Congratulations! You are now in the game!

Interacting with the game

You can do several things now that you're in game.

Basics

• Walking: use the arrow keys
• Talking:

1. Push Enter or Return to enter the chat box
2. Type your message
3. Push Enter or Return again to send the message

• Talk to an NPC (Non-Player Character)
  • Click the NPC, or
  • Using the keyboard, push the target NPC button (default key: N), then push the talk button (default key: T).

More features

• Spell icons between the bars and buttons at the top:
  • If a mage casts a spell on you, it will display an icon for as long as it's active.
  • If you're a mage and you activate a spell yourself, it will show an icon for as long as it's active.
• "Whisper" (or Private Message) a player:

1. Push Enter or Return
2. Type /w player_name some_message (replace player_name and some_message, "quote" player_name if it has spaces).
3. Push Enter or Return again.
4. A new tab in the chat box will be created. Click it and you can now whisper that player without the /w command.

• Going AFK (Away From Keyboard)
  • Type /away to use the default AFK message (you can change it in the Settings).
  • Type /away some_message to use "some_message" as your away message.
• Rotate or turn without walking: Hold down Left Alt and push an arrow key
• Buttons in the top right of the screen. Hover your arrow on one to see a keyboard shortcut ("u key" means "unknown" or "unset").
  • ONL: Online Players List
  • HLP: Help with ManaPlus
  • QE: Quest Log (not available in TMW)
  • KS: Kill Stats (or, how much longer until I level?)
  • :-): Emotes (Smilies) List
  • STA: Character Stats
  • EQU: Currently Equipped Items
  • INV: Inventory (what you're carrying)
  • SKI: Character Skills
  • SOC: Social (Friends, Parties, etc.)
  • SH: Shortcuts (AKA Items/Spells hotkeys)
  • SP: Spells
  • SET: Setup (or Settings)
  • Right click a button to see other available buttons.

Change Hotkeys (Keyboard Shortcuts)

Many players find the default hotkeys somewhat difficult and non-ergonomic. To change them:

1. Click Setup
2. Click the Input tab
3. Click something you wish to change
4. Click Unassign
5. Click Assign
6. Push the Apply button.

Note: If your new hotkey is already used for something else, a warning message will appear when you click Apply. Repeat the above process to "fix" the conflicting hotkeys to avoid issues in playing the game.

Enable Extra Features

If you right-click on either the bars or buttons at the top of the screen, a menu will appear allowing you to "show" or "hide" different bars or buttons, based on your needs and playing style.

Clicking the SP button will bring up a list of spells. You can right-click a spell to edit it, or right-click an empty square to add a new spell. You can then assign these spells to your Shortcuts bar (click the SH button) so you can activate these spells from your keyboard.

In the Setup window, you may find it useful to enable the following items, sorted by tab. Features enabled by default aren't listed.

• Touch (for those on smart phones and tablets)
  • Show Onscreen Keyboard Icon
  • Show Onscreen Joystick
  • Show Onscreen Buttons (remember to change the buttons to suit your needs)
• Chat
  • Hide Shop Messages (occaissional whispers containing !sellist etc., these are not spam but instead for the built in shop support)
  • Use Local Time (use your computer's clock to timestamp chat messages)
• Misc
  • Highlight Monster Attack Range (how far away monster can be and still attack you)
  • Show Warp Particles (sparkle effect where you can walk to a different map)
  • Highlight Player Attack Range (how far away you can be and still attack, changes depending on weapon)
  • Accept sell/buy requests (if you want to set up a player shop)

Improve Performance

Sometimes the game does not run as well as it could. Below are some tips to improve performance.

ManaPlus

In Setup:

• Video tab:
  • Disable Custom Cursor.
  • Switch between Fast OpenGL, Safe OpenGL, and Software to see which works best. Note: Tablet and smart phone users should use Mobile OpenGL.
  • For older computers, set the FPS Limit between 20 and 60 (you may need to experiment).
• Visual tab:
  • Set Gui Opacity slider to max (all the way to the right). This turns off the transparency effect in ManaPlus' windows.
  • Set Ambient FX to either Low or Off.
  • Set Particle Detail to the minimum (all the way to the left).
  • Set Particle Physics to Best Performance.
  • If performance does not improve after all other changes (including the ones below), uncheck Particle Effects.
• Performance
  • Check all options under Better Performance.
  • Uncheck all options under Better Quality.
  • Experiment with the settings under Different Options. The exact combination that will work best depends on your computer.

Outside ManaPlus

• Close all unnecessary programs, including those in the system tray (the "tray" of icons near the clock).
• Perform a system update (e.g. Windows Update, Synaptic, yum upgrade, etc.). Ensure your hardware drivers are up-to-date, especially your video card driver.
• Scan for viruses and spyware.
• Filesystem check (Scandisk, Chkdsk, fsck, etc.).
• Defragment your hard disk (Windows only).
• Reboot (Windows only).