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Added "chat" key, amended typos


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# Basic Interface ¶

This part of the Game Help explains the buttons on the starting screen, the buttons you see at the screen's bottom in-game and the menus said buttons lead to. ¶




## Starting the game ¶

When you start Widelands you first see the splash-screen and get then to the starting menu: ¶

![ghbimenuen.jpg](/wlmedia//wlimages/ghbi_menuen.jpg) ¶



### Single Player ¶

Allows you to open a game in order to play alone or against the computer. Also leads to the Widelands Campaigns and allows you to load a previously saved single-player-game. ¶
To start a single player game, click 'Single Map' and choose the map you want to play on. At the right side you see the map description. Above that, there is a checkbox labelled 'Load Map as scenario'; if this is checked, any events (actions triggered by certain circumstances set by the map creator) will occur, otherwise they are disabled. After choosing the map click 'Ok' and you see a list of all players in game - you and the computer-controlled tribes. You may deactivate any computer players by un-checking the checkbox next to the player's name. You may also determine what kind of tribe each player shall play. The 'Start Game'-button starts the game then. ¶




### Multi Player ¶

Allows you to open a multiplayer game for several human players; for more information on this subject, check out the GameHelpmultiplayer. ¶




### Watch Replay ¶

Allows you to watch the replay of a previously saved game. This can be useful to hone your tactics or compare your's to the enemy's. ¶




### Options ¶

Allows you to set game options, such as: ¶

* __resolution__ ¶
** you may choose between a resolution of 640x480, 800x600 and 1024x768 with 16 or 32 bit colours respectively ¶
* __fullscreen__ ¶
** if checked, you see the game in fullscreen; otherwise in window mode ¶
* __grab input__ ¶
** if checked while in window mode, the mouse will never leave the window ¶
After choosing your desired options, click 'Apply' to use them and return to the main screen. ¶




### Editor ¶

Opens the Widelands Map Editor, which you can use to create your own maps, scenarios and campaigns. For further information on this subject, check out the EditorHelphelp. ¶




### View Readme ¶

Shows the content of the Readme file. ¶




### License ¶

Shows the Gnu General Public License. ¶




### Exit Game ¶

Exits Widelands. ¶




## In-Game ¶

After starting a game, you see your headquarters in the centre of the screen and the landscape around it. At the screen's bottom, there are five buttons ¶

![ghbimenuingame.png](/wlmedia/wlimages/ghbi_menu_ingame.png) ¶

with following meaning respectively: ¶




### Main Menu ¶

Allows you to ¶

Function | Description ¶
-------- | ----------- ¶
**Save Game** | Self-explanatory ¶
**Load Game** | Self-explanatory ¶
**See Wares Statistics** | Shows a chart with all available types of wares below. By clicking any wares, you display the amount of them produced over time and their average production rate in the chart. You determine the period of time taken into account for this by clicking the buttons below; you may choose between the last 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours and 8 hours. ¶
**See Buildings Statistics** | Opens a list of all available buildings and shows, how many units of ware they have produced respectively, how many of them have been built and how many are yet being built. Clicking a building shows the average productivity for that kind of building and allows you to jump either from one finished building of that type to another, from one unfinished building of that type to another or from one unproductive building of that type to another, depending on which arrows you use ¶





### Objectives ¶

If you play a scenario-map (campaign) this button opens the list of objectives you need to reach at the moment. ¶




### Mini-Map ¶

Shows a mini-map, on which you can toggle on/off: terrain, conquered area, flags, roads, buildings (buttons from left to right, upper row first). Left-clicking the mini-map instantly moves your view to that position. ¶




### Building Help ¶

Toggles on/off the building help, which shows you what can be built on every field: ¶

Symbol | Can be built: ¶
------- | ---------- ¶
Flag | Flag ¶
Hammer and hoe | Mine ¶
Red hut | Small building ¶
Yellow house | Mid-sized building ¶
Green Tower | Large building ¶

A lower level structure can be built on any higher level site (except mines) in the order: ¶

Lowest | Low | High | Highest ¶
----- | ----- | ----- | ----- ¶
Flag | Red Hut | Yellow house | Green Tower ¶




### Tribe's Ware Encyclopedia ¶

Shows you all the wares of your tribe and provides an explanation of each ware. ¶




### Other features/functions and keyboard shortcuts ¶



* You can scroll in any direction by holding the right mousekey button and moving the mouse in that direction. ¶
* Close any window by right-clicking on it. ¶
* You can move any window (except windows created by storyline) wherever you want to and minimize it to the window title by clicking with the middle button of the mouse on it. By clicking on the window title with the middle button of the mouse again you can expanded it. (Instead of the middle button of the mouse, you can use Ctrl + left kclick) ¶




You have also the following features in-game: ¶

Button | Effect ¶
------- | ---------- ¶
**Space bar** | Show/Hide Build help ¶
**M** | Show/Hide the mini-map ¶
**C** | Show/Hide the names of buildings ¶
**S** | Show/Hide the statistics for buildings ¶
**O** | Show/Hide objectives ¶
**F** | Alternate between Window mode and Fullscreen ¶
**Home** | Centres screen on your HQ ¶
**Page UP/DOWN** | Alter the game speed (Default speed is 1. Reducing it to 0 pauses the game, you may increase it up to a factor of 100) ¶
**F5** | Reveal the entire map (<span style="color:red"><b>Working only in debug-mode!</b></span>) ¶
**CTRL+F10** | Exits the game ¶
**F11** | Take a screenshot (it is saved into the wWidelands directory as shotXXXX.bmp, where XXXX is the screenshot's number) ¶
**Enter** | Chat to other players