Celtic Minstrel

I think the wiki, in its current state, is little more than a dump of the documentation file. So starting with the wiki is no different than starting with the docfile.

Hmm, potentially friendly goblins... I like that. (In general I like the idea of making normally hostile creatures friendly.)

I already have a utility scenario that I made, but I could always try another one. Mine is flexible but a little inefficient.

(I have sent you a private message.)

The automatic porting feature of the editor is proof that the game accepts more states than the documentation claims. I suggest raising the limit on state number to 255 - that is, after all, the logical limit if the number is stored in a char variable (ie one byte).

It's good to have the documentation online, of course, but I recommend distributing the program with an offline copy, presumably accessible through the Help menu - for the benefit of people who have dial-up or non-constant internet access (eg. only at school / work / whatever).

I'm not one of those people, but I would still like to have offline reference. Sometimes my internet connection randomly breaks.

Can you give a brief description of the scenario? I may like to test them, but I'd like to know what kind of scenario they are first.

Also if they will take more than an hour or so to test I may not have time until after my exams are over (about two weeks, I think).

When will version 1.0 be released? Are you planning to finish the documentation first?

I've numbered all 8 images in order of their appearance in the thread.

1. This one seems artificial.
2. This one is probably my favourite of the first four. Generally you see a mixture of broadleaf and coniferous trees, unless you're far north or in the mountains.
3. This one makes me think of a young forest, possibly a plantation.
4. Nice, but I think the trees are a little too large.
5. Perfect for a place where broadleaf trees are sparse. This one ranks equal to #2 in my opinion, but for a different situation. I still don't like the trees of #1, but it's better when they're not the only kind of tree present.
6. Same as above.
7. Same as above?
8. I like the autumn tree, but I think it would work better in larger clumps rather than the occasional lone tree amongst conifers.

For myself (ie if I used graphics like these in a scenario), I'd like an option of all conifers, all broadleafs (autumn and summer), and a mixture.

While we're on the topic of documentation, there's this:

I think the categories of Lenar's rubric are good, but they needn't be combined into a single overall rating.

1. Playability
2. Plot/Exposition?
3. Combat
4. Puzzles
5. Roleplay?
6. Aesthetic
7. Custom Graphics
8. Town Functionality
9. Novelty
10. Replayability?
11. Scripting/Nodework
12. Outdoor Functionality
13. Dialogue
14. Prefab Party?
15. Treasure Balance?

I added #l2 onwards, and the ?'s are the ones that don't quite seem good enough for me.

Each category should have a rating of 1-5 or 1-10 or whatever, plus a N/A option (eg for a scenario without an outdoors or without combat, etc.)

Also, some of the above categories could probably be combined.

Well, I decided to add it to the list in my first post. But I don't think OS integration is a priority here - the game uses a custom dialog engine, so the only titlebars will be OS dependent. (The game window and the map window titlebars). Although I've noticed that on Windows the dialogs also have titlebars.

Or if the game becomes unregistered and you have the CD, simply reinstall.

How long before the beta stage is over (roughly)?

Exile III was ported to Linux, so it may be possible. In the meantime, it runs well enough under WINE.

I think that files with an exs extension should be opened in the BoE scenario editor when double-clicked, and also under drag and drop. Currently the editor just ignores these things at launch.

If you make your BoE scenario and it interests me, I will play it. I still plan to create some BoE scenarios myself. Although I think BoA has many improvements, there are still things I prefer about BoE - for example, party size and spell repertoire.

This is wonderful! I will now be able to find the right item and monster a lot more easily! Thanks for the update!

Will this ever have BoE stuff? Because it would be nice to have all Blades (BoE and BoA) scenarios and graphics all together in one place.

Doesn't each of the Avernum Trilogy games have a few extra dungeons though?

It's on the other list , #8 under Other Minor Changes.

Would it be alright for one person to go through the various graphics repositories and submit them in a batch, or must it be done by the artist? If you have the time, you could do this yourself (and ditto for me).

But if it loads corescendata and then the custom script, why would the grass be affected when I didn't do anything to it?

Unless... the game stores the fact that one was imported from another rather than actually importing the data?

A sample of my code:

begindefinefloor 254;	import = 0;begindefinefloor 0;	fl_icon_adjust = 656;

(Sorry about double post!)

I found another odd bug. I altered the cave floors to add an icon adjust value, and for some reason the adjust value was carried over to the surface floors as well - even though I had not added it. I added to specifically cancel the adjust on the surface floors for it to work properly.

Edit: Thought I should be more specific. I modified them by importing them into 254 then reimporting that (implicitly) back into the original slot, rather than completely redefining them.

There's a bug with item graphics. If you give an item an inventory graphic that is not in the first row of the sheet, it will be displayed correctly in the Get window, but once it is in the inventory the graphic at the top of the same column will be shown instead (ie, if it was slot 11 or 21, then the graphic in slot 1 will be displayed). Floor graphics in the second row work perfectly fine.