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The Pacman game accepts command-line options to control display mode at startup.

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Usage

./pacman [options]
You must specify either -f or -w flag when running the game. Running without options will display the help message.

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Options

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-f
flag
Launch the game in fullscreen mode.This option sets the SDL video flags to include SDL_FULLSCREEN, enabling native fullscreen display.Example:
./pacman -f
When fullscreen mode is enabled, the game:
  • Saves the current monitor resolution using GLFW
  • Generates a restoration script at /tmp/restaurar_xrandr.sh
  • Stores display configuration including:
    • Resolution of each connected output
    • Position and layout of multiple monitors
    • Primary display designation
  • Restores the original configuration when the game exits
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-w
flag
Launch the game in windowed mode.This option runs the game in a standard window without changing the desktop resolution.Example:
./pacman -w
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-h
flag
Display help message and exit.Shows usage information with available command-line options.

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Display configuration

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Resolution restoration

When the game runs in fullscreen mode (-f), it automatically:
  1. Saves current configuration - Uses GLFW to detect the primary monitor’s resolution, refresh rate, and uses xrandr to capture multi-monitor layouts
  2. Generates restoration script - Creates /tmp/restaurar_xrandr.sh with xrandr commands to restore the exact configuration
  3. Restores on exit - Executes the restoration script when the game closes
The restoration process may take 1-2 seconds, especially with multiple monitors.

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Multi-monitor support

The resolution restoration system supports:
  • Multiple connected displays
  • Extended desktop layouts (relative positioning)
  • Primary display designation
  • Individual resolution and refresh rate per monitor

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Requirements

The xrandr utility must be available on your system for resolution restoration to work. If not found, the game will display a warning but will still run.
The game checks for xrandr availability at startup in /usr/bin/xrandr or via the which command.

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Exit codes

The game exits with status code 0 on normal termination.

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Implementation details

The command-line parsing is implemented in src/main.c:166-179 using the standard getopt() function.

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SDL flags

The game uses different SDL video flags based on the display mode: Windowed mode (-w): 
SDL_SWSURFACE | SDL_HWPALETTE | SDL_DOUBLEBUF
Fullscreen mode (-f): 
SDL_SWSURFACE | SDL_HWPALETTE | SDL_DOUBLEBUF | SDL_FULLSCREEN

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Examples

./pacman -f

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See also

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