One of the difficulties with Angband 3.3 is the dark blue color used for some of the monsters and getting your terminal configured properly.  The primary things to keep in mind are:
  • You need to use 'xterm' as your terminal type.
  • You need to tell the terminal to use 'xterm-256color'.

In order to verify this after logging in to a unix/linux box to play Angband, you should check the TERM variable:

$ echo $TERM
xterm-256color

When properly configured, the dark blue will no longer be an impossible to read dark blue but more of a medium blue.  On the main Angband play screen, the character's race and class will be in cyan instead of a dark blue.

PuTTY Configuration:
  1. Window - 80 columns, 24 rows
  2. Window - when resized change the size of the font
  3. Window, Appearance - Font of Lucida Console 20pt works well
  4. Window, Colours - Allow terminal to use xterm 256-colour mode should be ON
  5. Connection, Data - Terminal-type string should say "xterm-256color"
Playing in "big screen" mode:

Set your PuTTY window to something larger then 80x24 displayed.  You don't have to be particular about it, so something like 120x40, or just maximizing the window will do.  What you'll see is that the COLUMNS and LINES environment variables will change to match your new terminal size.

$ echo $COLUMNS $LINES
118 37

Then you can start Angband in 'GCU' mode using the '-b' (big screen) option.

$ angband -bcpu -- -b

This makes it easier to play at lower depths, where you can see more of the map at once without having to re-position constantly with the "look" commands.

Angband 3.3.2

Angband 3.3.2