Celtic Minstrel

The easiest way to compile the source on Windows is to obtain Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 (I believe there may be an Express version available as a free download from the Microsoft site) and use the MSVC solution located in src/BoE.vsproj. However, if you want to use Code::Blocks, go ahead and create a project (preferably, in a folder named "BoE.cbproj" in the src directory) and then come talk with me in the IRC channel - I can help you figure out what is needed to build a workable project. As for what this update is, that's hard to describe, but... the game no longer accesses WinAPI for most things, instead relying on open source libraries such as Boost (for filesystem stuff) and SFML (for windows, graphics, audio). There's also a brand-new scenario format and a new saved game format.

Well, that version has another save/load bug (fortunately nowhere near as serious as the last one). This time, it only affects new-format scenarios, messing up the status effects that monster abilities inflict.

As promised, here's another release fixing the save/load bugs and some other things. Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer Note: There may still be a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios.

I discovered a bug in the above build that will cause loss of data in some situations when saving. The special abilities of your equipment will become corrupted, and in the scenario editor, terrain type abilities will also be shuffled. In particular, do not save on the above build if the party is split up. I'll have a new build to replace it soon, maybe later today, maybe tomorrow (depending when I get around to it; feel free to poke me if you want it sooner) - the bug has already been fixed in my local repository.

Here's another release, with more bugfixes and some new features (like Resize Outdoors and Import Outdoor Sector, and recursive search for scenarios so that you can put them in subfolders). Also, if you drop the docs into doc/ in the BoE directory (so that you have three folders editor/, game/, img/ under doc/), the game will use that when Help Contents is requested, rather than connecting to the online copy on Sylae's website. Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer | HTML documentation The Windows Installer now includes the documentation as an optional module. The main advantage of using the installer is that you'll be able to double-click saved games and scenarios to open them; I'm assuming this won't work if you're running under WINE, though. Note: There are still a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios.

There's a "hint book" for the Valley of Dying Things scenario in the default documentation. Do the other scenarios also have hint books available somewhere? If so, I'd like to include them with the open source project, if Jeff is okay with that.

That's okay, there's no obligation for you to help fix things, after all. Still, if you happen to find time or motivation later, that would be nice. For now, if you could send me the crash report from when you tried saving in the Scenario Editor (with the stack trace and everything), that would be great. (Or if it was an "Error!!!" dialog, then copy the error message with the Copy button and paste it here. As for your messing around, I'm not really quite sure what you've done to make that wand, but I'm glad you like my work.

It seems like that unimplemented function is something to do with threads. I already put up a new Windows version which should fix it (by using a different thread class). If you're going to try and fix stuff, I'll go make sure I've pushed everything I have.

Just in case it's a bug in legacy scenario loading, I suggest you hold onto that corrupted copy. I don't think it's very likely (after all, the preset scenarios load for me without any major issues both on Mac and on Windows), but the possibility does exist.

And now, another release! Lots of bugfixes, a few new features. Download: Mac | Windows | Windows installer | HTML documentation Note: There are still a few minor issues with the uninstaller; some things might not be removed properly. However, using the installer has the advantage of letting you double-click BoE saved games and scenarios. There's also a makefile in progress (currently it works perfectly for compiling on Mac, but makes no allowances for Windows), so perhaps Sylae's automated build setup can finally be put to use soon. See it here (also notice build.sh, which is the main entry point for building the game).

Working cutscenes! (Actually, there are a few things to iron out still, like showing terrain changes during cutscenes, but still, most of it works.)

Out of curiosity, why do you want to compile the original source? In any case, it's very likely that GCC won't be able to compile it - it's very old code and may reference stuff that no longer exists.

I have no idea how to document the effect of setting path_type to 1... any ideas? // Where place? temp_rect = missile_origin_base; temp_rect.offset(-8 + x2[i] + (x1[i] * t) / num_steps, -8 + y2[i] + (y1[i] * t) / num_steps); temp_rect.offset(ul); temp_rect.offset(current_terrain_ul); // now adjust for different paths if(store_missiles[i].path_type == 1) temp_rect.offset(0, -1 * (t * (num_steps - t)) / 100);

While this is certainly nice and amazing, I wonder if this discards the main strength of BoE over BoA when you replace special nodes with Python scripts. Did you rewrite the authoring tools too? BoE's main strength over BoA seems to have been the ease of creating new scenarios, part of which was due to the special node system. Is it my imagination or did you rescale the tile graphics to be 32x32 instead of 28x36? What's the point of that? I kind of hope this will not fully replace the updated Blades of Exile that I have been working on. It's certainly taking it in a completely different direction.

I personally prefer having direct damage AoE spells (eg, fireball or icy rain) do friendly fire damage, though with something like a Mass Slow spell it would make more sense to only affect enemies. (You might not consider such spells to be AoE, though.)

If you're talking about the Tome of Missiles, I'm not sure. It was equippable, but I don't think I ever tried actually using it in combat.

That's kinda strange, then. Though, does possessing it make a character's missiles return? For example, if you give it to your nephil. It doesn't strike me as likely, but maybe...

If you already have a URL to the image, just post that here. If not, you'll need to upload the image to an image-sharing site, such as imageshack, photobucket, imgur, tinypic, etc. Does the item's name go italic to show it's equipped if you click on it? Ah, you're right, I remembered wrong. (Mind you, in latest BoE, you can choose either skill.)

I recall seeing this book in the game (it's called "Tome of Missiles" or something, right?). Basically, you equip it like any other missile weapon. I believe it works the same way as slings in Blades of Exile, so it probably requires Thrown Missiles skill rather than Archery (but I could be wron about that).

Interesting. It's not cut off for me on the Mac. I suppose it could be a Windows thing somehow. In any case, it's good to hear that you managed to get it working; maybe that'll motivate me to work on it more. (Especially if you find specific gameplay bugs.)

...it would be nice if that sort of thing could be literally implemented, somehow...

What about older games like Baldur's Gate or Neverwinter Nights? Baldur's Gate can be set to be effectively turn-based, as I recall. (I haven't tried NWN yet so not sure.) Legend of Grimrock is definitely a dungeon crawl. I haven't tried Legend of Grimrock 2 yet, though.

Are you using the "classic" version or the "beta" version that I recently released? If the latter, you'd be working with a new-format scenario (.boes). New-format scenarios expect the graphics to be bundled inside the scenario, and as I recall they don't search for them alongside it. Read the "How to Make Your Custom Sheets" section of the docs for more information. If you're using the "classic" Ormus version, then I have no idea what the problem could be.

CodeWarrior was an IDE (integrated development environment) for the old Classic Macintosh computers. Nowadays Jeff would no longer be using CodeWarrior since (from what I can tell) the Mac version of it is discontinued. Most likely he now uses XCode, which also happens to be free (unlike CodeWarrior). In addition, it's possible that he has only really written an engine from scratch once (namely Exile: Escape from the Pit), with all games after that being incremental improvements on the original engine. (I don't know if that's true, but it's one way he might have reduced the amount of work required.)

I suggest that if you have trouble finding graphics, just use default ones that are vaguely close to what you want. You can easily change the graphics for a monster or terrain or whatever later. Also, colour adjustments can be quite useful for making newish graphics from existing ones.