Quickstart

JMagnetic hasn't seen updates since a long time and you might experience problems when running it with newer Java versions. Windows and OS X users have excellent, up-to-date Magnetic ports at their hands and I highly recommend using the native versions over the Java version. Perhaps JMagnetic will get an update at some time, but at the moment my focus is set on the site and the Javascript port Magnetic Scripts.

Before starting the installation, please verify that you have a Java Runtime installed that is fully compatible with SUN JRE 1.4.2 or newer. A Java 5 or 6 runtime is highly recommended. On Linux the gcj runtime is not sufficient!.

Install JMagnetic by double clicking the installer or execute the command 'java -jar JMagnetic2.3.2inst.jar' in a shell (or use "Open with SUN Java..." on some Linux installations with Gnome or KDE).

Put the game files (Story files, graphic files,...) into the jm2data/gamefiles subdirectory of the JMagnetic installation folder. What you need for playing:

(1) the story files
(2) the graphics files (optional)
(3) the title pictures and music (optional)
(4) the hint files (optional)
Please make sure that all files for a game share the same filename except for the extension, e.g. pawn.mag, pawn.gfx, pawn.mp3,...

Use the icons or links that are created by the installer to launch JMagnetic. Alternatively you can change to the installation folder and run JMagnetic2.jar. Depending on your operating system you can double click the jar, use the context menu "Open with SUN JRE" or open a terminal and issue the command 'java -jar JMagnetic2.jar'

Select the game you want to play. Use the commands 'save' and 'restore' to keep your game progress.

Special thanks

Jan Schliemann
magnetiX development, for the highly inspiring design of his Magnetic port for Mac OS X and allowing me to use the graphics from his port and for beta testing JMagnetic

David Kinder
Magnetic 2.x development, Windows, MS-DOS (32-bit) and Amiga ports, for the extensive documentation of the Magnetic ports for DOS and Windows, which provided the base for the JMagnetic 2 help file and for maintaining the IF Archive, the central site on the Internet for text adventures and related interpreters, compilers and other tools.

Hayden Legendre
author of Glassworks and Helpmaster, for his great help with building and testing the JMagnetic installer.