Kelandon

You get a registration key. This is just a number that you enter when trying to register. You can also get the game on CD if you want, for an extra $4 or something like that, which will have (I assume) the newest version of the game on it. This shouldn't screw up any of your data files, because all you do when you register is unlock the rest of the game, not add any additional files. You might mention the version number that you're trying to register when you buy the game, though, not that it seems like it would matter. This is presuming that Exile 2 works the same way as every other SW game, which seems like a fairly safe assumption.

Have you actually played all 230 or so BoE scenarios released so far? (Or even all 70 or so that are definitely worth the play-through?) If so, I am impressed and suspect that you must have a few good scenarios up your sleeve, too. If not, well, there are more out there, even if they are not the newest. EDIT: I suspect one of the reasons that BoE designers became hesitant to talk about their works in progress over the years was that if you have a halfway done BoE scen, no one cares. There are literally hundreds of already finished ones.

I don't quite know what Keep is talking about. That's what the "code = " thing is there for.

Quote: Originally written by magoichea: Thanks Kel, what is the best strategy when you have to place two rooms that share the same wall? This is a bit trickier. Obviously, one room will not be able to put other terrains in the square that has the wall in it. There are some other things you can put there to make it look less empty: crates, barrels, bloodstains, that sort of thing. Also, you can use the floors that are carpets in order to decorate. Additionally, items (like a potted plant, for instance) are good for this. EDIT: To Djur: no, you can't put a terrain on the same tile as a wall (because a wall is a terrain, and you can't have two on the same tile). You can put items there, though.

I can't describe this with words, so here are images. The right way to place walls: The wrong way: For the most part, you want the former way, not the latter. Even though it looks weird in the editor, it looks fine in the game. EDIT: This is assuming, of course, that the room that you're placing is INSIDE those walls and there is a door somewhere to get in.

Heh, thanks. I intend to make the sequel... er... someday. My hope is to enter it in the Ninth Contest, assuming that such a thing occurs. The plan right now is to make it in BoE, because I would feel weird otherwise. It appears that no one has actually looked at these scripts, because the links were broken and no one informed me. Sigh. I will have to do some more blatant self-promotion.

No, because the idea is to get the nearest character number, not the distance to the nearest character.

Use my Special Death script, set the memory cells appropriately, and then do it in the town script. Or, if you must, do it in the creature script in the DEAD_STATE.

I wanted to do something like this with my BoE scenario, NK0P, but BoE really wasn't conducive to this. BoA would work a lot better, but it still doesn't seem like the type of thing a new designer would be likely to be able to pull off very well, but then, who knows. BoA does have very good calls for checking the party (what species, any skills, what names, etc), though, so you should be able to pull this off with a really elaborate set of checks without needing a pre-fab party. And if you must, using a pre-fab party won't kill anyone.

Um, I haven't tried it, but I think the way to use string manipulation in dialogue is to use the message_dialog call. The call print_str won't do it -- that just prints a line in the text area, which isn't what you want. To use string manipulation in regular dialog boxes, well, you're pretty much there already. Once you've saved the string you want as whatever name you like (I like dlgstr, myself, as a compresssed form of the phrase "dialog string," but obviously you can use anything), just use whatever call you would normally use to set up the dialog. If it's short, it will look like this: Quote: message_dialog(dlgstr,""); or you can get a longer message with add_dialog_str Code: add_dialog_str(0,dlgstr,0); Everything else is the same as what you've already done. The HLPM v1.0.2 has examples of this, in state 20 of the town script for instance, although this version isn't terribly clear. The next version, v1.1, will have comments all over it so you can follow along, and it will be out tomorrow.

I'm pretty sure not, because I tested this out with some visual cues (if my_current_message is whatever, put_boom_on_char myself), and it only happened on the next turn. With tests, I found a definite difference between behaviors based on creature numbers. Have you tried it out?

Um, these are Stareye's. They're pretty well known (and I think they're also in the Louvre ).

I believe I read a bit ago that this call is broken in the current version of BoA. Play with it a bit more, and if you can't get it to work, send the standard bug report to Jeff (e-mail with text description of bug, the scen attached and instructions as to how to replicate the bug). I say that you should do this only as a community service, because it would be nice to have it fixed for the next version of BoA and I don't know that anyone has mentioned this to Jeff yet. There is a workaround, using string manipulation (append_string whatever, append_number whatever, append_string whatever, and then print_str_color, which does work).

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (inhales) OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (inhales again) OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (starts coughing, falls on the ground, dies)

Okay, I have plenty of testers now. I just need some actual reports to come in. (I've only gotten ones that say, "I got it and looked at it for a second but didn't really see anything, so I'll look closer later," with maybe one or two exceptions.") For everyone else, the release date is Wednesday, and I'm actually going to try to get Spiderweb to host it, too.

I meant like the Valley of Thunder thing. I guess you'll just have to wait for the next one to come 'round -- Valley of Thunder looks like it's a pretty successful one, so you may have to wait a month or so, though. I was going to make some flailings in the direction of making this post on-topic, but then I thought, why?

I believe decimals get rounded down. BoA just cuts off the part after the decimal point. Code: print_num(25/6);print_num(29/6);if (25/6 == 29/6) print_str("It's true!"); I think I tried this once and it printed Debug value: 4 Debug value: 4 It's true!

Not that anyone probably cares, but meh. I threw a whole bunch of print_str calls into various states in scripts and came up with the following results: When a scenario starts up, the states called go in this order: START_SCEN_STATE LOAD_SCEN_STATE Then monster INIT_STATEs in the first town, in ascending order of creature number (so creature 6 goes first, then 7, then 8, etc -- unless you have joined NPCs, in which case I'd assume it starts with 4). Then it prints "NOW ENTERING: [town name]" Then town INIT_STATE Followed by terrain INIT_STATEs in the first town And the town START_STATE once, which is odd, because this is the only START_STATE called at this time. Every turn, the start states are called in this order: Scenario START_STATE Town START_STATE Monster START_STATEs, in ascending order of creature number (although this can be changed by changing the script mode -- haven't played with this enough to see its effects consistently). However, terrain script START_STATEs are weird and seem to be called whenever BoA feels like it, which appears to be influenced by monster movement -- possibly they are called in between different NPCs moving. So the obvious question is: why would anyone care? Well, there are a few interesting results of this. One involves messaging. I noticed the docs say, "right after a character's or terrain's script is run, its message is set back to -1, so if you don't check for a message once, the creature/terrain will miss it." Some elaboration on that statement: if creature 50 sends a message in tick x that creature 20 can hear, and creature 20 was set to check for the message in tick x, creature 20 will not get the message (because creature 50's script hasn't been run yet). If creature 20 checks again in tick x + 1, it WILL get the message then, and will promptly delete it after doing whatever it is supposed to do. Okay, you say, but SO FREAKING WHAT?! Well, just note that if a creature with a higher creature number sends a message to a creature with a lower creature number, the lower creature won't get it until the following turn, but if a lower creature number sends a message to a higher creature number, that higher creature will get it on that same turn. Something to be aware of if you use messaging calls. I'm sure there are more interesting applications of this knowledge, but I can't think of any right now.

The Hills of Jars, Holding Two, Kazg, the Holding Cells, and the South Workshop. For other information like this, this page is pretty useful, if a bit long. EDIT: Sigh, no direct linking.

Quote: Originally written by GIFTSare2 intelectly backwards: Erika is in my scenerio Except she is in a Paralell World You should understand. you do know about Quantum Physics and Multiple Dimensions right? Yes. I'm starting a Physics minor at UC Berkeley. I'd say I know something about quantum physics, although as far as I know, real theories of higher-dimensional space have nothing to do with alternate realities anymore. But sure, alternate realities. Yeah. Got it. This premise makes it only slightly less of an inherently bad idea, but if handled badly could make it profoundly worse. Erika is dead. Let her rest in peace.

Yeah, Imban, when I found the thread again and saw that it was you that posted it, I realized that it was probably accurate. I should've edited that part out, too, when I edited the post. I just made a scen with 200 blank towns and tried to add another one. I got an error message saying, "You have reached the limit of 200 towns you can have in one scenario." If I try to do something like this from the first screen, I get an error message saying, "The total number of towns must be from 1 to 200 (you must have at least 1 town)." So 200 is a pretty definite limit, not that I think anyone will really mind at that point (even *i or Shyguy ).

This discussion was already underway here .

Quote: Originally written by Jaded_i: It has to do with continuing the storyline of Erika and the vahnatai. For the love of god, please, no. Erika is dead. Rentar-Ihrno is vanished. Leave it that way. One "Erika's Legacy" (in BoE) is all we need. If you have any other ideas for scenarios, make them first, and then maybe give this one a try. Collaborations in Blades rarely if ever work. We had a discussion of this here with a fellow named Max Power, who to the best of my knowledge is still at work on his collaboration. And BS was rather small and uninteresting because Khoth didn't put that much time into it, not because he didn't have that many good ideas. If he had time to do more, it would've been better. Good coders rarely will go in for this sort of thing. EDIT: While I have seen several people post that they have a great story that they can't code, I don't think I've ever seen anyone post that they have great coding abilities but no ideas for a scenario plot. This is a bad sign.

We are in rather dire need of decent scenarios at this point in BoA's history. Short is good. Size does matter, in that longer scenarios will, all other things being equal, probably be liked more, but right now, I think we just need scenarios. Besides, longer scens are for experienced designers. We're all n00bs when it comes to BoA.

I was wondering about this, too. Evidently the 100-town bug only occurs when leaving towns 100-127. If a scen skips those intermediate ones, it can have more than 100 towns. I read this in a thread crediting this discovery to Vince Fizz, so the accuracy of my information is questionable. EDIT: Here , if you want to read about it.